My Golden Angel
by clogz
Summary: Sun Chan is the daughter of Sun Ce and Da Qiao, who meets Lu Xun, handsome, irresistible, but with an annoying fault… wait – he IS annoying, and he seems to hate Chan most of all. Then theres the punchline, and Chan is forced to love her worst nightmare.
1. 1

**Summary** - _That was what drew her to him, the alluring sound of his voice. Her eyes were latched onto him; she couldn't focus on her meal, and was inconspicuously drooling in an unfortunate manner over her rice._ Sun Chan is the daughter of Sun Ce and Da Qiao, her father died a year after her birth, and she now follows her Aunts Xiao Qiao and Sun Shang Xiang in believing that women have an important part to play too. But then, she meets Lu Xun, handsome, irresistible, but with an annoying fault… wait – he IS annoying. Full stop. But geeks have a chance too, don't they? However absolutely-smack-it-in-your-face-gorgeous they may be…

**Notes** – Hi there – welcome to my fanfiction! This is the intro of my story based on an OC, the OC is Sun Chan, the daughter of Sun Ce and Da Qiao. This whole story is COMPLETELY inaccurate… so don't go round flaming me for that, thanks. ;)

_**First Impressions**_

_There he was, sitting several tables away from the eighteen year old Sun Chan, munching silently on his evening meal while he conversed animatedly with two other people, her aunts,Sun Shang Xiang andXiao Qiao. The man - he must have been at leasttwo or threeyears older than Sun Chan – happily laughed at the antics of his friends, and his smile seemed to light up the whole room, his tinkling laughter chiming sweetly in the air. That was what drew her to him, the alluring sound of his voice. Her eyes were latched onto him; she couldn't focus on her meal, and was inconspicuously drooling in an unfortunate manner over her rice. _

_He was, in a word… beautiful. _

_His hair was a honey coloured mess on the top of his head, messed up scruffily, but handsomely so. His eyes… they were a deep, penetrating hazel, and they flashed with zeal when he spoke passionately about something to his friends. Sun Chan herself was goggle eyed staring at him, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed this person before…_

_He wore a red shirt, which was open down the middle, revealing a modest six-pack – now _that_ her made drool… if anything, an his body was tanned gloriously, heavenly. _

_Sun Chan didn't want to stop staring, the man was all she could fully focus on, it was as if she was staring at an angel._

_An angel fallen from heaven just for her to observe._

_A voice inside her head tormented her; 'go over to him,' it said softly, 'go over and speak to him.' Sun Chan had never been entirely confident, though, she had inherited that annoying trait from her mother, Da Qiao. _

_But that was most probably the only inherited trait, for Sun Chan was clumsy, loud – to a certain extent – and chatty, though also bubbly and witty, with a long, passionate streak for adventure. _

_Just like her father, her mother had always noted tearfully, eyes growing misty and threatening to burst as they always did when she thought of her passed away husband. Sun Chan didn't know how close the two had been, but she knew that Da Qiao had been greatly in love with Lord Sun Ce, from the way she spoke about him…_

_Sun Chan tried not to dwell on it – there's a man for everyone, so they say._

_Speaking of which…_

_Sun Chan stood up, pushing her plate forcefully to a side and taking a deep breath – as said before, this was not her area of expertise – while plucking up a rare dose of courage. _

_Her aim was to start a conversation, but she could only helplessly watch as the man waved goodbye to her Aunts, cleared away his plate, and made for the door._

_He didn't even give a second glance back or look over his shoulder as he strode out of the hall and into the corridor._

_Sun Chan felt positively deflated._


	2. 2

**Notes** – Thanks so much for the reviews! It's great to know people are enjoying this story that I'm putting so much work into! ;) This chapter is kinda short…but things will pick up soon enough… I assure you. ;)

_**We're all Equal**_

It was a peaceful morning in the palace, birds were chirping merrily outside in the trees as they greeted a candy-coloured sunrise. The country-sides of Jiangdong were being illuminated by morning sun beams, and clouds were slowly and calmly pacing high in the sky.

Rays of sun snuck into the front rooms of the palace, filtering over the balcony of a certain room and onto a large double bed, where the covers were bunched up around a large lump. The young Sun Chan lay curled up and fast asleep.

She was an easy sleeper, lie her down in her bed and she would be out like a candle against water, and it took raucous yelling from both Xiao Qiao and Sun Shang Xiang to motivate her in the mornings. Sun Shang Xiang was Sun Chan's opposite – she would always be one of the first people awake of a morning, then proceed to slamming all the doors in the palace and persuade soldiers to march around the corridors loudly to wake everyone else.

'You'd be useless in battle,' Shang often joked, 'when sleeping in a tent you have to awake early before the enemy, it gives advantage. You wouldn't have my yelling or door-slamming to wake you.'

'But women don't fight…' Sun Chan would say with a whine, also mocking tiredness for added effect.

Any mention of women's rights and fighting and her aunt would cringe, and then grip Sun Chan by the shoulders while trying to stare her out.

'We all have a place in this world, Chan, even women. We are all equal.' She would say seriously, her own eyes burning into Chan's as she willed her to understand.

But Sun Chan wasn't thinking about that now, in fact, snuggled up in her bed, she was dreaming about just one thing…

The figure underneath the covers stirred, there was a soft rustling noise, and Sun Chan emerged from the cavernous depths of her bed, her head poking out to survey her room comically.

Sun Chan gave a yawn, and sat up from the bed, resting against the headboard. Her room was how she'd left it the night before, messy, curtains still half-drawn, while a broken quill lay in the middle of her floor, large rolls of parchment were bunched together on her desk, and there was a large, blotchy ink spill next to the desk. Then there were the hundreds of clothes that Sun Chan had tossed to a side in agitation the previous day – she was a fussy dresser -, though apart from that, the room was spotless.

She gave a wide yawn – still tired – and rubbed her eyes carefully to rid them of sleep-dust, though finding it just made them worse. Chan gave a grumble, and swung her legs out of bed, nudging the scarlet covers to a side as she stretched her arms above her head and gave another simultaneous yawn.

'Chan?' A voice asked tentatively, as the door creaked open from behind her.

Sun Chan looked over her shoulder to see the door open by a few centimetres, letting a blinding ray of light into the room, and her mothers head poking round it into her room.

Sun Chan gave a sleepy smile, 'hi.'

Her mother smiled back and stepped into the room, shutting the door tentatively behind her and walking over. She really was beautiful, her mother. Dark brown hair drawn into two long red ribbons, her eyes coated with the slightest dash of make-up, and her eyelashes long and sweeping. Her cheeks were clouded with a hint of blush, and her hazel eyes were big and motherly as she looked upon her only daughter.

Da Qiao's clothes were always angelic and classy, with radiant colours and large puffy sleeves, frilled cream-coloured skirts and refined hairpieces. Her mother was also rather attenuated, though always modest about her perfect figure.

Sun Chan was the contrast – rather less attenuate and more curvaceous, though pleasingly well-proportioned – not that she was really fussy enough to mind about her looks and figure.

Da Qiao flounced forward – her delicate walk could have placed the most beautiful dancer in shame – and sat hesitantly on the side of her bed.

'Lady Sun is looking for you, and my sister.' Da stated, raising an eyebrow at her daughters messed up hair, taking a lock in her fingers and twining it helplessly.

'What, Shang and Xiao?'

Her mother rolled her eyes heavenward and gave the smallest of sighs.

'_Lady Sun_, and _Lady Qiao_,' she corrected, wanting Sun Chan to use the decorous terms for her well-respected Aunts (well, you could hardly call her flamboyant and mischievous sister well-respected), 'Chan, please sort out your hair, it would look really nice if you did something with it.'

Sun Chan shot a scowl at her mother, and jolted her hair away from the grasp of her mother's fingers. 'Gerroff, mum…Anyway, what am I supposed to _do_ with my hair? I only just woke up!'

Da Qiao clucked her tongue impatiently and cocked her head to a side, as if it was obvious, 'tie it up? Cut it? Brush it?'

'Mum!'

Da Qiao smiled fondly, and then gave her hair another ruffle, 'go and sort yourself out. I think _Lady_ Sun will be giving you another training session today, so you might want to tie it out of the way.'

'Another lesson? Great!' Sun Chan asserted happily, jumping up from the bed so forcefully that Da Qiao started, and rushed over to her mirror.

Her mother smoothed the folds of her embroidered top down, and sat back daintily on the bed, watching distastefully as Sun Chan fussed with the birds-nest on top of her head.

Sun Chan scrutinized herself in the mirror, and looked herself over. As said before, the young woman was never happy with her appearance, though it wasn't normally that she fussed over it as much as her mother did. She had scruffy, chestnut hair which fell just below her shoulders with a side parting which swept across her forehead. Her eyes were a deep brown – the same shade as her mothers – and she had a heart-shaped face with a lightly tanned complexion. Her clothing was always simple, either shorts or three-quarter length trousers – rarely a skirt, eugh! – with a short sleeved top, her favourite one being a shapely and ravishing halter-neck with embroidered gold swirls running down the side till the bottom of the top, the whole look complimented her figure.

'Sun Chan…?' Da Qiao asked tentatively as she watched her daughter fight a battle against her hair with the comb, the girl was literally attacking her hair and wincing as she hit knots.

'Yeah?'

'Um… maybe you should try brushing you hair, instead of… er… sabotaging it?'

Sun Chan shot a sarcastic look at her mother along the lines of 'what else is going to tame it?'

Da Qiao shook her head, and stood up, walking over to where Sun Chan stood and holding her hand out for the comb, affectionately smiling as her daughter stuck out a hand in acrimony and slapped the comb into her palm.

* * *

Sun Chan hectically flew down the corridor (not literally of course), cursing her mother under her breath as she rushed, and her shiny and newly brushed hair flowing behind her.

She had persuaded her mother (much against Da's will) to keep it loose, though now it was becoming slightly aggravating as it bounced about her shoulders.

Of course, she wouldn't tell her mother that.

Sun Chan didn't want to be late for the Shang's lesson (yeah, yeah, Lady Sun…) though she enjoyed the lessons whole-heartedly, Shang got fairly chafed if the youth was late.

The corridor was pretty much deserted, though Sun Chan was nearing the end of the hall, she just needed to turn a corner and she'd be…

CRASH.

'Sorry!' Sun Chan apologized repeatedly, as she looked down at the figure she had just caused to trip up, his books had gone everywhere, parchment had rolled down the hall, and ink had spilled all over the floor of the corridor.

The man didn't respond, just gave a groan and fumbled about on the floor as he stared in dismay at his ink covered books; he wasn't looking at her, though Sun Chan could tell he was annoyed by the way he'd groaned.

But there was something about the man that intrigued her… his hair, his figure, his size… she couldn't see his face, but could it have been…?

It was him, the angel.


	3. 3

**Notes** – Yay! They met! I haven't really got any notes to…er, talk about, just thanks for reviews and suchlike. Ciao!

_**The Really Gorgeous One**_

Lu Xun scowled at the floor as he groped about for the stray pieces of parchment, all the while not wanting to look up for embarrassment. Though the person wasn't speaking, or helping whatsoever.

_Rude. _

He sat back on his knees and sighed, staring in dismay at the ink spills, all the books now safely back in his hands and the parchment rolled and tied together once more. Though of course, his hands and arms were now enshrouded by large blotches of ink… all over his best outfit… too…

He glanced back up at the figure, to which his surprise was a girl, gaping as if she'd just seen Cao Cao back from the dead.

She was a rather pretty girl, he thought, her face shape and eyes were somewhat familiar, as if he'd seen her before… but he was sure he hadn't, he would have remembered. Her hair was clustered around her face, which was painted with a crimson blush, and her eyes were wide with mixed surprise and apprehension.

Lu Xun was expecting the girl to apologize once more, but she didn't. Instead, she held out a hand.

'Hi! I'm Sun Chan.' She said happily, the blush in her cheeks beginning to fade. Ah, Sun Chan, the daughter of Sun Ce and Da Qiao, no wonder he recognized her; she looked distinctly like her mother and father.

Ok, he was covered in ink, flustered, sitting on the floor, and with a handful of parchment and notes, and this girl was introducing herself?

'Er… Lu Xun…' He said, standing up carefully and eyeing her hand, which he didn't take.

The girl's smile faltered, and she blushed once more, this time more violently than the last.

Lu Xun frowned at her, and gathered his things together, not knowing why she was still standing here, just staring.

_Move, then…? _

'I'm er, sorry about your stuff…' she said, gesturing to the books he was carrying and speaking in a small voice.

'That's ok.' Lu Xun stuttered, 'thanks for helping me pick it all up.' He replied sarcastically, slipping past her down the corridor, leaving Sun Chan stunned and confused.

She watched him go, feeling slightly downcast.

* * *

'Xiao?' Sun Chan asked hesitantly, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the training halls with her two friends, idly picking at a seam on her top. 

'Yes?'

'Um, do you know… Lu Xun? My height, golden-brown hair, very ha- I mean, sort of good looking?'

Xiao Qiao gave a gasp and a 'duh' expression, sitting forward on the floor and placing her chin in her hands. 'Of course I know! He's a really well known strategist, he's just got back from a really long battle against Shu, _and_ he's dreamy… huh?'

'He is…' Sun Chan admitted, blushing in spite of herself, for at least the millionth time in that hour.

'What's this about Lu Xun?' Shang Xiang said gleefully, plonking herself down on the floor by Sun Chan as her eyes twinkled happily.

'Chan thinks he's gorgeous.' Xiao Qiao said promptly, earning herself a stoic glare, and Sun Chan another blush.

'Well, you did say…'

'So? You don't have to tell the whole world, like, SUN CHAN THINKS LU XUN IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS.' Sun Chan said loudly, her face now red from anger, but too loudly, however, that several soldiers stared.

Sun Chan cringed and sank back down onto the floor, while Shang giggled.

'Oh well. Have you spoken to him?'

At this, Sun Chan's face (finally) resumed it's normal colour, and the young woman gritted her teeth in deep agitation. She admitted the truth.

'He's a bit…um…'

'A bit…?' Shang encouraged, gesturing with a hand impatiently.

'Um…' Sun Chan twined a lock of her chestnut hair in her fingers with demoralization, 'well, he's not exactly the nicest person…is he?'

There was a short silence, Xiao Qiao stared at Sun Chan, and Shang Xiang… well, Sun Chan couldn't tell what she was doing… she'd sort of gone cross-eyed, with one brown raised eyebrow.

'He's not nice?' Xiao Qiao said quietly, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard, Sun Chan flinched.

'Well, he was a bit… you know…'

'No, I don't know.'

'Argh. He just seems really put off by me. Like there's something wrong with me.'

Shang Xiang gave a groan, and made a face at Xiao Qiao. 'When did you meet him? For how long? Have you met him before?'

'Er… I crashed into him in the corridor, I managed to spill ink all over his books and stuff, and…'

'Ah. He was probably annoyed about you getting his books and parchment all doolally, he just came back from a really bad battle, he needs all that work done for Sun Quan, you know what he's…'

'Huh?' Sun Chan interrupted, with a frown, 'how can a battle go bad if you win it?' She asked dumbly, then added; 'they did win, right?'

'Yes,' Xiao Qiao said, screwing her face up as she tried to remember the events of the battle, 'their supplies were cut off, two generals were captured, but Liu Bei got away. They still won.'

'Oh.' Sun Chan said tonelessly, gazing into space surreptitiously. 'I don't get any of this battle stuff, it's really confusing.'

'Hear hear.' Xiao Qiao and Shang Xiang said together, the three giggled, and Shang stood up.

'I'm going down to the river, there's not much point in training, I can see you're not in the mood.' She said, nodding at Sun Chan, 'are you coming?'

Sun Chan considered for a moment, while Xiao leapt up happily and agreed.

'Well…ok. Jut as long as I'm back in at least an hour, my mum needs to talk to me, for some reason.'

'Don't expect anything complimentary from my sister! You're probably going to be told something ghastly, like getting married!' She joked, as she gave Sun Chan a hand up from the floor.

'Don't joke about that, Xiao.' Shang said distastefully, smirking and linking elbows with the other two. And with that, they began to walk out of the training hall, leaving the swords, battling soldiers, and men-talk behind… but not for long.

* * *

'Oh. My. God.' Xiao Qiao said with a gasp, as she spotted a figure coming up in front of them, walking away from the river with a quick stride. The person was coming towards them. 

The person was also the infamous Lu Xun.

'Wow! Talk to him, Sun Chan!' Shang urged aptly, though there was a tint in her eye that suggested a mischievous plan.

Sun Chan didn't like being pushed about, and slapped her aunts hands away agitatedly. She moved away from them, and…

… crashed right into the man himself.

She looked up at him with a weak smile, and met his unimpressed, slightly annoyed expression.

'Hi! Again.' Sun Chan squeaked brightly, while Lu Xun gently pushed her away to a comfortable communication space.

In his case, 10 metres still wasn't far enough.

'I seem to be running into you a lot today.'

'Er… yeah!'

'Come to spill some ink on me?'

Sun Chan blinked owlishly, 'er… no, just saying… hi.'

Lu Xun rolled his eyes, and then turned to Xiao and Shang, his face lighting up as he saw them. 'How are you two?'

_Fine… don't worry about me… _Sun Chan thought bitterly, sending glares Lu Xun's way every five seconds, while he conversed animatedly with her aunts.

She suddenly thought of an interesting conversation topic… well, hopefully interesting for the dashing strategist, all men liked war, didn't they?

'How did the… er, battle go?' She asked timidly, focusing on the ground and concentrating on a small rock so as not to meet Lu Xun's expression, she was sure it wouldn't be anything pleasant, seeing as it was _Sun Chan_ who had asked the question.

There was a sigh, and then a giggle, Sun Chan instantly knew who the giggle had come from, and gave Xiao Qiao's foot a swift kick.

Sun Chan continued to concentrate on the stone. So interesting… beautiful patterns… very, dull, and…grey…

'Bad. Our supplies were cut off, Liu Bei was taken away and…'

'Two generals were captured!' Sun Chan chimed in felicitously, feeling happy she knew a piece of information that could impress.

Lu Xun put a hand to his brow, while there were more suppressed giggles from Shang Xiang and Xiao.

Or…not.

'I need to go, bye Xiao, Shang.'

Bye Chan? Lady Sun?

He walked off with his head in the air, surveying the sky around him, his red evening robe flowing just behind him.

Fine.

'Bye to you too.' Sun Chan remarked, scowling unfondly as a bird chattered in a tree, as if laughing at the girl herself.

Shang and Xiao erupted into huge outbursts of snorting, loud, and entirely irksome laughter.


	4. 4

**Notes **– Ok, the story has gone real quick so far, though I'll be going back and editing the whole thing soon enough (due to the shortness of my chappies, dammit). I'm starting to believe the whole… Lu Xun pyromaniac thing… it's gonna be something good to take the mick out of in later chapters (VERY evil laugh). Oh well, thanks for reviews, **Verdin**, **BlueChihuahuaCrimsonFlame** (phew) and **Beverley**.

YAYAYAYAY! I got DW5 Empires! Even though I don't actually have DW5 yet... :s

_**Same Difference **_

Sun Chan was tired.

Incredibly, incredibly tired.

She had managed to stagger back to her room, after looking for her mother for hours in the palace, though Da Qiao was nowhere to be found, and now the youth collapsed gratefully onto her comfy bed, breathing in and out deeply, realising that this would be a good time for the term 'rest in peace' to intervene.

The bed sagged as Sun Chan lay back, and the red covers billowed around her as she closed her eyes in preparation for a long doze.

Though her body was incommodiously tired, her mind was still crazily active, her head filled with cloudy images of Lu Xun… curses relating to the handsome though irritating strategist flowing about in her brain.

He didn't like her.

Well, that was known fact, even once he'd left and her two supposed 'friends' had dispatched of their maniac giggles (oh, come on, it wasn't even that funny), Shang and Xiao had agreed nervously that Lu Xun seemed to have a problem with her, even if only a little one.

_Oh well_, thought Sun Chan relieved to be out of his company and hopefully not in it any time soon, _it's not like I'm marrying him_.

Talking of marriage…

Sun Chan had noticed earlier how her aunt, Sun Shang Xiang had been distant when Xiao Qiao mentioned her husband, Liu Bei. She didn't know much about their marriage, just knew that Shang had been sent to Shu to marry him for a plot that Zhou Yu had set up – she had never mentioned it, but Sun Chan believed she loved him.

She also thought that that had to be the reason Shang attempted to force a debate of womens' rights onto the bewildered Chan every morning, did Shang not want to be a 'possession', like so many others?

Like all of us.

In a woman's life, said woman grows up to honour her family, then marries, but that's how she earns her respect. Once you're married, then you have a purpose. Shang was now the 'wife of Liu Bei.' She's not anything at first, but after marrying, _she's someones wife. _

Sun Chan had mixed feelings about this, for a start, she didn't want to marry. Full stop. But she wanted to stand up for herself and let people acknowledge that she wasn't a possession. But what was the point in such a futile debate? Winning over men was like finding a hairpin in a battlefield.

Sun Chan scowled up at her ceiling, pushing such thoughts from her head. It was all too errant and ardent to be thinking about now, when she was at the height of tiredness and the height of boredom. If she thought about it too much, she'd wake up the next morning to find her mind on fire (cool, nonetheless, but maybe off-putting).

Still bored, Sun Chan carelessly extended a hand towards the ceiling, concentrating on her nails – which were short from an unpleasant habit of nail-biting – and tracing around the cracks and chips where paint were hanging precariously from the ceiling, in mid-air.

Sun Chan sighed to herself and let her hand flop back down beside her, while she turned her gaze to fix on the scene surrounding her balcony. Outside, the glowing, now mellow sun was beginning to shrink down behind the horizon, drowning amidst the countryside of Jiangdong, giving way to a rising moon.

A tree stood next to the balcony, ripe with blossom that drifted from the branches as they swayed to and fro in the gentle afternoon breeze, and two birds sat on the topmost branch, chirping merrily as they sung their last of the day.

And, looking at this beautiful scene, the glowing atmosphere illuminating the hills as if a fire had just burnt them and left it's final embers, Sun Chan began to drift off into a peace-rendered dream…

* * *

Only to be awoken less than five minutes later as what seemed like a screech owl flew into her room.

But, no screech owl, it was her own mother, Da Qiao.

_Mother? Screeching?_ Sun Chan mused, _never._

Her hair was flying around her face as she let herself in through the door, and dashed over to the bed next to her daughter, who winced as the bed gave an unfortunate jolt.

'Sun Chan!' She announced gleefully,

'Yes, believe it or not.' Sun Chan said dryly, aiming on the sarcasm, which her mother failed to recognize.

She sat further back on her bed, arranging her skirts around her tartly, trying to restrain the wide grin which was threatening to take over her face and consume the majority of her cheeks. Sun Chan was puzzled at her mother's sudden excitement, but instead got straight to the more important question.

'Weren't we supposed to be meeting, earlier?' She asked, still lying on her bed and still staring at the dull ceiling, trying not to act too interested.

'Yes, but I got caught up, I had to speak to someone.' She responded matter-of-factly, a faraway look in her beautiful, big brown eyes that made Sun Chan desperately envious.

Sun Chan opened her mouth to speak, though her mother silenced her, holding up a pale, skinny hand, still looking misty eyed as she spoke.

'You know, the only thing you should ever try the hardest at, is to love. Fate is something you look for, Chan. You can't wait for it to come to you. Remember that?'

Sun Chan was stunned at such an interesting sentence (or, er, two) from her mother, and sat back, slightly awed.

'It's one of the most important things, to love and be loved in return.' She added, smiling in spite of herself and looking back down at her feet.

_Sorry, I couldn't resist quoting Moulin Rouge - _

'That's sweet, mum, but tell me, what's going on?' Sun Chan persisted, finally sitting up from the bed and studying her mum as if not having seen her before.

Da Qiao scrutinized her daughter before stating the most simplest of facts. It was not an order, neither was it a request.

'You're getting married.'

Silence.

A second ticked by, two seconds.

There was no change in the atmosphere, unless you count the fact that Sun Chan was silently, and slowly, growing redder, her eyes were flaming with acrimony, and her hands had curled into fists. She leapt up from the bed as if it had just been set on fire, and pointed accusingly at her mother, who didn't flinch, even though her daughter was leering with deep venom, and was on the verge of blowing her top.

'I'm getting married?' Sun Chan said quietly, her voice steady and quiet, though it quivered as she fought to control it, and she was practically spitting with deep rage.

'Yes.'

'Right. Great.'

Another short pause, where Sun Chan turned away from her mother with a flick of her hair, and a deep penetrating glare, and began to pace over to the other side of the room, where she leant against the wall, scowling at almost every object she could lay her anger-filled eyes upon.

Sun Chan had always been a one for losing her temper; it was well-known to most people in the palace to stay on the right side of the young, fiery woman, or you would probably wake up the next morning in the infirmary, or not being able to talk properly for a bandage round your nose.

Said young woman close her eyes for a minute, then asked; 'why?'

Da Qiao shifted her position and cocked her head, ever so slightly, to an angle.

'You need a husband, besides, it's good for me, as well, to know that my daughter is married to someone respectable.'

_Respectable…_ the word cut through Sun Chan like a sharp knife, just form that one word, and the way her mother said it, it sounded that this man was a bit of a bore.

'Wait, a second. Do I know him? Personally?'

'No. I highly doubt it, it was arranged very quickly, you know how marriages are almost always arranged between complete strangers. I didn't ask, his guardians requested it, they thought you would be suited for each other.'

'Thank god for that, then…' Sun Chan muttered unintelligibly, Da Qiao's head snapped up.

'What was that?'

'Oh, nothing. Who is it, anyway? His name?' Sun Chan pondered. As against marriage as she was, she was eager to find out the name of her husband. Would it be someone caring perhaps? Someone loving, who would have time for his wife? Or maybe someone really boring who spent his time with his nose in his parchment, a man who cared more for battle and peace than his wife?

And so Da Qiao told her daughter.

* * *

Xiao Qiao and Sun Shang Xiang were sitting outside as they soaked up the last light of the day, when suddenly, they heard a loud, whining, crazy yell. 


	5. 5

**5**

Sun Chan stormed through the food halls with anger, glaring at anyone who dared look at her, her hair flying madly about her face as if it was static – though, because of her crazy rage, it probably was.

Several soldiers stared at her as if she was mad, and then glaring down into their evening drinks as if to blame them for what they were seeing. One of them gave a cough and a short, uncertain laugh.

'Heh, she must be getting married.' He said, as if to note, 'that's another one for the books.' Sun Chan ignored his comment, and resisted the annoying urge to ferociously kick his table down, drinks and all.

Instead, she drew herself up to her full height, and tossed her hair behind her shoulders, flouncing down the food hall to where she could see Xiao Qiao and…

A figure stepped in front of her.

But the soldier, in all his wry annoyance, was indeed correct. Sun Chan was getting married. And not to some carefree, caring, kindly (and rich, very rich) either, instead, it was to the last person that she couldn't stand to be in the presence of.

Because he had a problem with her. She didn't know what, but he had a problem.

A figure stepped in front of her.

She looked up to met his eyes, and had that feeling like butterflies erupt in her stomach, the feeling that sent you plummeting into spluttering embarrassment to boot, making you blush like a beetroot. For it was her fiancé.

'Sun Chan.' Lu Xun nodded, making to step past her. But Sun Chan grabbed his sleeve, and gave him a fierce look, making even him tremble, if just for a second. He gathered his wits and calmly took her hand from his sleeve, returning her glare with a short smile.

'Yes?' He asked, raising an eyebrow innocently, ruffling a hand through his golden hair with a sigh.

'I'll tell you what. I'm marrying you.'

'I know. Unfortunately.' Lu Xun scowled, rolling his eyes, while Sun Chan blinked.

'Unfortunately? Thanks a lot! I don't particularly want to marry _you_ either!'

Lu Xun shook his head violently, as if trying to correct a mistake. 'I didn't mean it like that! It's just the fact that I…'

'The fact that what? You don't want to be marrying a wimp like me? Huh?' Sun Chan burst out angrily, sending poor Lu Xun into more crazy head shaking.

Why her?

'Sun Chan! Don't take it the wrong way, but…'

'But what?'

'I didn't mean that it was unfortunate to be marrying you! I meant...'

'Then why have you been so cold to me in the last few days, huh?'

Lu Xun bit his lip as he met Sun Chan's triumphant expression, his head drooped and he raised his hands in defeat.

'Wait…' Sun Chan said slowly, frowning to herself slightly, 'did you know that we were getting married? Is that why…?'

Her soon-to-be-husband simply blushed and nodded his head slightly; Sun Chan glared at him and folded her arms over her chest.

'Fine. Just to let you know, this whole idea is a waste of time to me.'

Lu Xun's head shot up, and he felt anger rise within him. _Should know her place._

He narrowed his eyes, and gave a short reply, crossing his arms like Chan.

'Fine.'

Sun Chan gave a huff, annoyed that he hadn't retorted or given an insult. But she couldn't think of one.

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

'Fine.'

'F-Oh, leave me alone!' Sun Chan said grumpily, giving in and turning her back on Lu Xun, walking off with a flounce in her step, the startled strategist standing and blinking behind her.

Lu Xun continued to stare. How dare she just… just flounce off as if it was his entire fault! But he couldn't do anything. Because the woman that stalked away from him, her hair bouncing out behind her elegantly, was his fiancé. He could do nothing, but endure her overwhelming presence.

Boyan couldn't think of what to do next. And, he did look rather stupid standing in the middle of the dining hall with his mouth wide open in puzzlement.

He settled his conflict of confusion by turning around, scratching his head and walking out.

* * *

Xiao Qiao and Sun Shang Xiang were irritated, bored and grouchy. But that was mainly because their sixteen year old niece was even worse. For the whole half an hour that she had been in their company, the whiny teenager had not shut up about how irksome the whole idea of marriage was. Sun Shang Xiang was even starting to see things from Chan's point of view.

'…I mean, he does NOT have to be so irritable towards me. Maybe he could _try_ and be nice. Just because we're getting married – come on! Even if we're getting married, we don't have to spend every five seconds in each others presence! Not that I'll try to st-

'Chan!' Xiao and Shang Xiang said at exactly the same time, Shang Xiang nearly knocked her mug of water across the table in her sudden anger.

Sun Chan blinked, bewildered, and stared at her Aunt.

'Er Shang, you ok?'

Shang Xiang settled the matter by glaring at her niece in an 'if you don't shut up then you'll be the one who's not ok' kind of look.

Xiao Qiao gave a warning look to Shang, and turned to Chan, who now scowled at the table, which had suddenly become the best thing to look at, what with Shang in her monthly PMS mood and Xiao Qiao coming over all motherly.

'Chan, maybe you should just try and get along with Master Lu Xun?'

The look that Xiao Qiao received was pure evil, it was even worse than the glare Sun Chan had been giving the table – and that was saying something. Xiao Qiao flinched and cowered under her niece's glare, while Shang resisted the sudden urge to say, 'I told you so.'

'I mean, it's not like you… er, well maybe you could try? It would be… maybe not…' Xiao stuttered, her eyes wide as she watched the anger build up inside Sun Chan.

'You. Have. NO IDEA.' Sun Chan spat, standing up from the table quickly, and shooting a last piercing glare at the other two.

'GOOD.BYE.'

Xiao Qiao watched with confusion as Sun Chan began to stalk out of the room, flouncing off with such arrogance that even Lu Xun would be put to shame.

Shang looked up from her rice with a dark expression, a slight smile forming across her lips as they formed the last, exaggerated syllable.

'You just unleashed pure evil.'


	6. 6

_Back! After about two years of hiatus. I doubt anyone will still be following this, but its worth a try Read and review, my lovelies! Just a short chappie today, to get back in the swing _

**6**

"… and I don't want to marry him, because he's honestly a bit of.. well, a twerp and all, and kind of needs a good kicking in the…"

"Dim sum?"

Sun Chan looked quizzically up at her new friend. "Huh?"

"Dim sum. Do you want some? You know, food? You do eat, right?"

Chan stared for a second longer before blinking in confusion and looking back down at her hands, laid on the wooden drinking table.

"Um, no. I mean… I do eat and all. But…"

"You're not hungry."

"No."

"Ok then."

Silence ensued.

Chan's 'new friend', as it were, raised his eyebrows in mild disbelief and leant back in his chair, swinging his tied up hair about behind his head and folding his arms across his chest in boredom. He began to whistle, fiddling lightly in the silence with his red ribbon, which was bound about his hair.

"Stop whistling," Chan mumbled, her face cast downward, her fingers twiddling idly on the table.

"Well I'm sorry," the man sighed, leaning forward toward Chan and placing his elbows on the table in a conversational manner. "Lets talk about something other than your impending doom, other words, marriage, for a minute or two."

Sun Chan gave a distinct grumble in the general direction of her friend.

"Ok," he said, offhandedly, "what are you going to be up to today? I in fact, am going to see Zhou Yu, to talk about lovely, boring strategy. Now won't that be a hoot and a half."

There was a pause in his speech, whilst Sun Chan looked up at him grumpily and began to pick her nails.

"Now, Chan, you're meant to reply, and say what you will be doing. It's called conversation. Have a try." He smiled sarcastically, as if teaching the art of speech to a three year old.

His comment was received with a glare from the young woman opposite.

"Hmm… lets think…. I'M GETTING MARRIED. TODAY. AS IN, NOT TOMMORROW, THE DAY AFTER, OR ANY OTHER DAY. TODAY. I AM GETTING MARRIED. TO A FREAK." Chan screeched, standing from her seat with her fingers curling to fists on the surface of the table.

He was not affected by her outburst, but instead calmly arose from the table and rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry. Have a nice time. I really think that I'm done here."

And with that, he left the hyperventilating girl to her frets, and began to stalk away from the table.

Sun Chan glared at the spot where he had been two seconds previously. Her head flicked up to watch him leave, her eyes following his swishing hair, her face screwed up in a slightly constipated expression.

"Wait!" She yelled, suddenly realising something before proclaiming, "I never found out your name!"

The man just waved over his shoulder, yelling back, without turning round, "Ling Tong!"

* * *

"I just look… normal. Frumpy. Boring." Chan sadly told herself, scowling slightly at her reflection in the dusty mirror hanging in the palace foyer. A pre-menstrual, rat-haired eighteen-year-old frowned out at her from the confines of its shiny prison, while Chan wished she could look more like her mother or one of her Aunts.

Shang Xiang smiled softly beside her, gently raking a comb through her nieces hair, smoothing out the knots onto her satin covered shoulders calmly. "You look… angelic. I guess."

"Now that sounds corny," came the reply, Chan pursing her lips and intently searching her reflection to find the faults she could correct.

"No, seriously, you look lovely. You're just not used to wearing a dress, like your mother constantly does."

"But she carries it off well."

"So do you. You can see how well you've inherited your father's good looks. And your mother's, obviously." Shang Xiang shrugged truthfully, smiling lightly at the mention of her deceased brother.

A contented silence fell for a few minutes, whilst Shang continued to comb out Chan's hair slowly and Chan looked away from the mirror into the gardens, not wishing to stare at her disgusting reflection any longer. Her eyes settled on the setting sun, orange and pink behind the foothills, deep purple coloured clouds stretching over the land of Jiangdong. Outside, the marriage procession waited, ready to walk around the palace in preparation for the couple to pay respect to one another.

_I have to pay respect to a man I loathe,_ Chan thought grimly, moving away from Shang, brushing her hair over her shoulders carefully and stepping out onto the palace lawns, shrugging her shoulders against the soft breeze and giving a small sigh.

She had never felt more alone.

Even looking at the huge marriage procession, bright red clothing and headdress, banners and statues, a flurry of violent traditional colour, people all wishing her a happy life with her new husband; they all meant well, but they were just more people in the wrong, it seemed, their ideals and beliefs conflicting with Chan's wants. She didn't _want _to marry this boy… she wanted to make her own choices and affects.

However, she would be the gossip of women for many weeks to come. She was marrying one of the most handsome men in the land, one of the most clever too, beautiful, skilled and high of rank.

But what was beauty, when emotion, kindness and gratitude were not included? He hated her. Just her, in particular. He seemed to be so nice to everyone else; it was just the unfortunate Sun Chan whom he seemed to have some kind of grudge against.

"Sun Chan?"

Chan turned on the spot, clutching awkwardly at her long drapes of satin dress. "Mother."

Da Qiao gave her daughter one last tearful glance before sending her toward the procession. Her satin dress hugged to her figure, tawny brown hair falling gently around her heart-shaped face, whilst her eyes were alight with the same painful defiance which Sun Ce's had once held.

"Are you ready?" She asked fondly, pleased, for once, at her daughters appearance.

Sun Chan took one last, longing look at the grassy foothills, as if searching for an escape route among them, before rolling her eyes and claiming, "as I'll ever be."

* * *

The thoughts racing painfully through the minds of the two newlyweds as they paid their respects to each other were full of mixed emotions…

**Oh, goodness. He's just… too handsome for me. Seriously.**

_Wow. She looks beautiful. Annoyingly so._

**How long does it have to take me just to walk towards him? This is just dragging along…**

_Monogamy's looking gorgeous right now. Maybe this will turn out well_.

**ACK! Don't trip over the dress. Rule number one in mother's book. **

_If she's going to be tripping up all the time over her own feet, then maybe I'll be leaving her in the palace when attending events._

**If he turns up his stupid little button nose at me one more time, I won't ever look at him again.**

_She must think I'm really sour. First impressions, I guess._

**He must look down on me. Hate me.**

"I do."

_But I don't._

"I do."

**No, really, I'm kidding.**


	7. 7

**7**

The weeks following the wedding were, surprisingly, quite normal for Sun Chan. Being a married woman made no change to her life; apart from envious, bitchy glares received from most of the single female population of the castle, and awkward moments in the corridors when she bumped into or passed her 'beloved', causing embarrassed scowls and narrowed eyed frowns to ensue. Lu Xun had lost his sparkle; his golden eyes and tan skin no longer captivated Chan, and she managed to lose interest in him despite the views of her new ladies-in-waiting.

"He's just so… mysterious," Li mused enthusiastically, fiddling with a lock of jet-black hair absent-mindedly, whilst giving Chan a disbelieving look. "I can't believe you're not… well… all over him…" her words faltered as she met Chan's steely eyes.

"He has a problem with me," she stated icily, pursing her lips as if Xun was the scum of the earth, which, in her mind, he was acting very much like.

She moved away from her dressing table and slumped down onto the quilt of her large bed – built for a cosy pair, used by a lonely one.

"Whatever," droned Jin, the gobbier, more outgoing and judgemental new lady-in-waiting of Chan. Jin fixed Chan with a devilish glint in her eyes, "I think you could easily wrap him round your little finger and just let him give you a good –

- "Song!" Came the chirping interruption from Li, clapping her hands together while her eyes alit. "You could sing for him."

Jin and Chan stared.

"What, jump out at him in the corridors and burst into the shrieking cat chorus to give him a good old-fashioned serenade?" snorted Jin loudly, making Li blush a deep crimson.

Chan shook her head distastefully. "There's honestly no way of making reason with the guy. I interrupted one of his 'strategy meetings' the other day," through her gritted teeth, you could hear the quotation marks in her tone, "just to pass on a message, and all. So I'm in this boardroom, and Yu, Quan and Xun all just look at me as if I'm mental. Xun practically escorted me by my elbow outside as if I was old and decrepit, and practically yelled at me! He went on about how he needs to sort out his bloody strategy rubbish for an important battle. Oh, and apparently I couldn't be interrupting because I'm just not clever enough to understand how important it is."

Chan finished her rant with a little pout and flung herself backward on her bed, head landing on the pillows with a thump.

Li looked down uncertainly at her, giving Jin an elbow in the ribs as she giggled. "But he seems like such a lovely guy." She admitted truthfully, looking away from Chan so as not to receive a scowl, "He's always so nice and sweet to everyone."

"Apart from Chan." Chimed in Jin, with a wide smile.

Chan said nothing, whilst Li continued, "he always makes an effort to get to know people, and he doesn't try to find faults in anyone…"

"Apart from Chan."

"No! He's probably just under stress and shocked at being thrown into being a married man. He must need someone to talk to."

"Apart from Chan."

"Go away you two." Came the mumble from the bed.

Jin and Li rolled their eyes, but obediently ducked out of Chan's room.

Chan sighed, finding the will to tumble out of bed and right herself on the carpet. She moved over to the window, where she looked down onto the palace lawns and spotted her Aunt Shang Xiang, who was slowly making her way down to the river with a slightly… glum expression. She looked tired, sad.

Chan barely ever saw Shang so upset; she was one of the most cheery people in the palace, despite her, well, marital problems. She would often go down to the river; she told Chan that it was because sometimes it was her only escape from the hectic chaos of the palace, a place to find peace and where she could often sit alone, but not feel lonely.

"I hope my marriage doesn't turn out so bloody awful that I feel like that when I'm older…" Chan muttered, watching Shang disappear behind the trees.

* * *

The palace dining hall was so full that it was threatening to burst at the seams. There were two vacant seats nearby Chan, and hesitantly, she approached the closer seat and sat down with her food.

She looked around at the other people on the table; many soldiers who she barely knew, several girls sitting further down on her right, sniggering behind their hands and shooting disgusted looks in her direction.

"You try being married to him…" Chan mumbled under her breath, glaring down at her rice as if it had just been the one to make the wedding announcement.

"Pardon?"

The devil himself was stood beside her, holding his filled tray just above the table, his body language telling her that he was deliberating on whether to sit with the grumpy teen.

"I was just…"

"Talking to yourself." Lu Xun smiled shortly, awkwardly moving to sit down on the bench beside his wife.

Chan just closed her eyes in irritation and returned to the more important subject of her rice.

The two sat in silence, as Chan grumpily began to prod the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks feebly, whilst Lu Xun tucked into his meal without giving her a second glance.

Over the other side of the hall, sat Shang, Xiao and Lu Meng. Chan gazed at the trio wistfully. What would she give to be laughing and chatting with them as usual right now? It wasn't even that long ago that she was sat watching Lu Xun himself in this room, how she had been marvelling over his complete and utter flawlessness, gaping at his perfect looks with absolutely no shame. She snuck a side-glance at him now, her eyes settling on his face, his golden hair ruffled up carelessly on top of his head, his face an impeccable golden tan. He was, legally, hers.

He turned to look at her, just as she felt herself beginning to gawp.

Blushing furiously like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Chan instantly pursed her lips together and raised her eyebrow slightly, as if to say, "what?"

In the second that his bronze, mellow eyes met with hers, butterflies coursed through her stomach. The magic only lasted but a second, and the butterflies fell down inside her as he looked back to his meal and cleared his throat.

"What have you been doing today?" He surprised her by enquiring.

Wow. He'd actually asked her a question. Like a normal conversational human being.

"Um…" Chan struggled to get her mind round the sentence that would follow, continuing to stab her rice. "Not much… I just, um… did some stuff, and then went to a place and did more stuff."

"How exciting," came the bored reply.

"It was."

Silence.

Chan continued to stab the rice, which was now a violent mush of carbohydrate inside her bowl, prodding large lumps of it, imagining it was the head of the man sat beside her.

"What about you?" She managed to blurt out, turning away from her rice and giving a feeble attempt at conversation. It was probably worth a try at gaining speaking terms with her husband.

Xun turned to look at her. "Uh… I was in a lot of meetings."

Chan found herself becoming more enthusiastic than was necessary; her pride being, as always, at risk. "What were they about?" She asked, eyes wide with a newfound interest.

She was met with a small scowl, as Xun considered whether Chan was actually mocking or showing genuine interest. He gave a weak smirk. "About how weird girls are."

Some of the soldiers sat around their area gave feeble snickers in their general direction.

Chan felt herself colour greatly once again. She gave a loud huff and drew herself up slightly in her seat.

"You're really funny, you know. I'm guessing some of the other meetings were… well, Pyromaniacs Unite?"

_Right back at ya'… _she thought, smiling with childish satisfaction.

Lu Xun just scowled once more, pushing his bowl away lightly across the table and turning to face her.

"Sorry?"

"Well… you're a pyromaniac."

"Am not."

"Are."

"What evidence do you possibly have for that?" He asked her in frustration, his face screwed up in annoyance and his hands gesturing madly at nothing in particular.

"Well…" Chan started, eyes widening and gazing into space as she struggled to counter. "You always use fire in your stupid battles."

His expression changed in a flicker. There was a straight morph from childish, argumentative irritation to real anger. Chan found herself shrinking back ever so slightly into her seat.

Xun had stood up, and was glaring her out with complete disbelief. Soldiers and officers around the tables began to stare at the squabbling pair, several people casting aside their meals and bending around friends to get a good view of the fight.

"Stupid? Stupid battles?" He questioned, his hands now bunching into fists, his face growing red. It really wasn't a good look for him, the whole angry puffed up face thing.

Chan cowered slightly under his glare, but kept her stoic expression fixed.

"Y-yes… they're stupid…"

"How, exactly?" His voice was calm, but she could hear the tremor in its tone.

"Well… you…" Chan cast about for a reason, refusing to meet his smouldering eyes. In some type of jerk reaction, she stood up and moved closer to him. She was at least a head taller than Xun, though she made him stagger back a pace and nearly elbow an elderly soldier in the head.

"Because… Because you hurt innocent people!" She stated loudly, her voice threatening to break into a shout.

"THESE STUPID BATTLES, THAT YOU TALK ABOUT SO BLUNTLY, ARE IN ORDER TO PROTECT YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS PALACE! IN ORDER TO PROTECT OUR KINGDOM!" Xun yelled, not used to having to raise his voice in such a horrible way. He coloured a deeper crimson than his wife due to the shock, and instantly regretted his yells.

Chan was at a loss for words, and could not think of a way to counter that one.

He continued in his rant, stepping closer to her in a threatening way and looking her square in the eyes. His topaz irises didn't look right with such an acrimonious glint to them; as if his nature was completely contrast to the way he shouted at Chan right now.

"You, in fact, are too stupid to understand any of this. You have no idea because you'd rather be sat about in the gardens with your little friends, gossiping about officers and painting your nails. Ignorance is bliss, right Lady Sun?" He was having a hard time keeping the volume down, gritting his teeth against the violent profanities that were threatening to pour out.

Chan found herself gaping widely in disbelief, and she resisted the urge to push his muscled chest away so that she could storm out dramatically.

"I THINK, REGRETTABLY, IT WOULD ACTUALLY BY LADY LU, NOW. HOW UNFORTUNATE. MAYBE IF YOU ACTUALLY GAVE US A CHANCE TO UNDERSTAND YOUR BATTLES AND STRATEGIES AND WHATEVER, THEN WE'D BE ABLE TO HELP, INSTEAD OF, SORRY, 'SITTING AROUND AND PAINTING OUR NAILS.'"

"You forget your place."

"You forget your manners."

"Ignorant."

"Pyromaniac."

Xun's fierce eyes snapped up to meet hers, and Chan cowered once again, stumbling back into the aisle between the tables.

"Just get out." He said tiredly, giving a wave toward the door, turning away from her and sitting back down to his food.

Chan stared at him, before giving a helpless shrug of her shoulders and making a dart for the corridor. She managed to make it to her room without bumping into anyone who could jeer, slamming the door behind her and slumping down against it, sliding to the floor with her eyes threatening to pour rivers.

She was shuddering in anger. Her fists were still clenched tightly, white at the knuckles, and she banged on the floor with a hand, giving a small whimper at the pain and recoiling back against the door.

"Stupid… stupid man…"

* * *

"So… have you?"

Chan looked at her Aunt tiredly, crossing her arms around her knees and clawing at the grass beneath her with desperate hands. "Have I what?"

"You know…" Xiao rolled her eyes and gave a flap of her hand, averting her gaze across to the river and leaning back slightly against the sand dunes.

"I really don't." Chan muttered, bored, squinting in the glare of the sun.

Xiao gave a huff of impatience and clicked her fingers in front of Chan's face. "Have you…" she clucked her tongue in her mouth and cocked her head to a side.

"Done the chicken dance?"

"No…IT."

Chan scrambled up slightly on the sand and gawped at her Aunt. "Of course we bloody well haven't! The man hates me! We're hardly going to be…"

"Ok, ok…" Xiao flapped at her niece, attempting to control the outburst. "You're going to have to at some point, you know." She ignored the sickly expression from Chan, "it's expected of you."

"Urgh."

"I know."

Chan snickered at her Aunt, however, and raised an eyebrow. "Like you haven't."

She waved away Chan's enquiry and instead rubbed her eyes wearily. "So has your mum given you… The Talk… then?"

Chan shuddered in acknowledgement. "Of course."

"Right."

"Chan?"

The two women turned around where they sat on the sandy grass to see a tall, long-haired brunette man bounding happily toward them across the dunes.

Chan smiled in recognition, awkwardly standing up to greet the visitor with relief. "Tong."

Ling Tong reached them and jumped on the spot energetically, grinning widely. "Hello Mrs. Married Woman. I have some news to break." He proclaimed, being the perfect messenger boy.

"Care to oblige?" Chan asked, holding her palm horizontally across her brow to shield her eyes from the suns bright rays. Nothing could spoil her newfound happiness; her husband was leaving tonight to set up camp on the Yiling plains, and that meant not having to worry about angry domestic arguments for the next… ooh, few weeks.

Ling Tong turned up the corner of his lips worriedly, as if he was about to break news that he didn't wish to be the bearer of. "Um… apparently, according to the fact that our army is leaving for Yiling tonight, and your husband will, of course, be leading the assault, then you are… um… expected… to come." He ducked away from the now blinking Chan in the hope that she wouldn't hit him.

She felt Xiao give a violent tremor of suppressed laughter beside her.

"What?" She had no emotion in her voice. It was like someone had just kicked the wind right out of her. "You mean I have to leave my friends behind for a few weeks just because Xun is?"

Ling Tong considered, raising his gaze to the heavens. "Um, yes, that would be correct."

"Why?"

"Not meaning to sound… crass… but, well… apparently people think it would be the best idea to make an attempt at getting you two to make some type of non-aggressive communication with each other."

Chan closed her eyes and screwed up her face, inhaling deeply.

_There's not going to be enough bloody room on that battlefield for the two of us._


	8. 8

_Read and Review, PLEASE! That would be very nice you know. :p I'm enjoying continuing with this story, thought I'll have to leave it if no one bothers to review. If you do happen to even stumble across it and read just one sentance, just type your thoughts. Even if you hate it and want to send me and my imagination to a land where the sun don't shine. Much love, readers. Thanks to all the people who are still keeping up with this, even after my two long years of hiatus :D You are simply brilliant._

**8**

Lucky for Chan, the mid-morning burst of sunlight dazzling onto the plains surrounding Yiling after being trapped behind rain cloud for most of the morning awoke her from her slumber, before anyone else could attempt arousing the girl awake with more brutal means.

It was Ling Tong who had decided on his own boisterous wake-up-call for the young woman, striding into her tent and screaming in such a high-pitch that it must have been easier for dogs to hear. His plan failed however, when he stopped his screeching and opened his eyes to find Sun Chan already half-dressed, falling over the grassy floor underneath the tent with bleary eyes, struggling to get to grips with where she was.

Ling Tong cringed as he noted how half-naked that she was.

"Whoops. I should skedaddle, wouldn't want your lovely husband thinking we were having an affair." He dryly stated, his dull attempt at humour not up to its normal standard.

Sun Chan glared up at him, her eyes focusing in and out blearily on Ling Tong. She hopped about on the spot while she forced her linen floor-length trousers over her feet, falling back onto her poor excuse for a bed with a huff. She eyed Ling Tong warily as he approached her with mock unassertiveness.

"I think it would probably be good if he thought that," she mused, hauling her trousers up and crossing her arms where she sat. She frowned at her scruffy, bitten away nails. "Then we could actually see how it would affect him. Like, if he actually gave a –

- I don't think that's the best idea." Tong interrupted, giving her a stern however sympathetic look.

Chan shrugged, uncrossing her arms to hug herself in an attempt to shut out the cold. She had a strange feeling, she felt damp and weak, and checking in a small, cracked mirror at her bedside, she could see how her skin on her cheeks had turned blotchy, her face puffy with random red blots of fading colour.

"I feel awful," she told Tong, attempting to shrug away the intuition with a grimace.

"That would be what I like to call tent-fever."

Chan narrowed her eyes at Tong, rubbing them as they clouded over once more. "Eh?"

Tong turned on the spot and carefully sat himself down beside her on the bed, revelling in the comfort, a luxury compared to his own accommodation back in the officers' tent. "When we go away like this, the tents become all damp, the cold air gets to you, makes you feel like shit, really."

"I noticed."

"Hmm."

Chan shook her head in an attempt to get it round everything, staring out through the small gap between the tent flaps to take a peek of where they were. She couldn't remember ever ending up on that bed, in that tent, and so someone must have moved her when she fell asleep on the way…

Proceeding to walk over the tent flap, she gently took the corner and pushed it up over the roof of the tent, revealing the lime green pastures of the outside battlefields, a crispy, fresh scent of morning air swooping into her nostrils.

The grass was covered in the morning drops of mildew, shining happily under the rays of the sun, a thick, yellow fog hovering above the ground innocently, soldiers and officers emerging and disappearing in and out of it eerily.

Chan looked at the people around her, dressed in dull attire, obviously not the Sunday best; scuffed and dirtied uniform which looked awkwardly stitched together from feeble material, not made for fighting in a battle. More important soldiers and officers wore proper defensive armour, metal-clad in what looked like heavy plates of red. She began to think what happened to the men in the less suitable clothing; what happened when they were faced against a stronger officer with sharp weaponry? Could their ailing cloth possibly protect from arrows. Once again, here were the men whom her aunt Shang spoke of, men who fought to no avail for a cause which was disputed by snobbish, high generals, safe and sound in their palaces, whilst innocent men like this fought to the death for someone else's argument. It was wrong, humanely incorrect.

Ling Tong came out of the tent beside her, his eyes narrowing to squint in the bright sunlight; however he was smiling widely; this scene was obviously a familiarity to him, a comfort. He waved enthusiastically at those generals and soldiers who he knew, then returned his gaze to Sun Chan, who was looking apprehensive and slightly intimidated by the scene around her.

"It's ok," Ling Tong assured happily, slapping her heartily on the shoulder, slightly too heartily it seemed, as Chan's knees buckled and she blinked in surprise. "Whoops." He grinned childishly.

Sun Chan scowled back at him, raising an eyebrow and shaking her head against the chilling breeze. Her hair whipped about her cheeks annoyingly, it was greasy and lank, very thin compared to its normal bounce from sleeping in the damp tent.

"Hey there, m'lady!" Came a raucously loud, gruff voice, approaching from somewhere behind her. Chan whirled on the spot, the bottoms of her cream linen trousers collecting a spectacular display of green-brown stains from brushing against the wet grass.

She turned to practically stare into the tattooed chest of a tall, stocky man, who towered above her own, short frame. Her head rose slowly, and she squinted against the sunlight to survey the man. She recognized him from around inside the castle in Jiangdong – a man who had always stood out to her, whom she had often deliberated upon speaking to. He was the type of guy who you could tell, just by looking, could start and hold brilliant conversation.

Spiky brunette hair held up miraculously by just a thin red ribbon, a fierce, rugged face, deep brown eyes and a set of golden bells thrown carelessly round his neck, he was individual, daring.

He followed her eyes, which had rested on the bells, and grinned widely, winking behind her to Ling Tong in a strange fashion. "They're a good warning for enemies, tell 'em when Gan Ning's acoming!"

Chan felt herself colour, but happiness rose inside her, a relieved happiness, she'd succeeded in making conversation with someone other than Ling Tong.

"That's pretty cool." She agreed, turning back to Ling Tong.

His expression surprised her; cold hard hatred was written devilishly across his face, and his cheeks had turned a putrid red.

"You ok?" She asked curiously, taking a step back from where she stood and eyeing the pair individually. Gan Ning himself held a mocking gaze on Ling Tong, whilst Tong himself just glared ferociously into Gan Ning's animated eyes. The pair looked as if they were oh so obviously, the best of friends. Chan suppressed a small chortle of laughter as Gan Ning took a step closer to Tong and sneered, "Y'alright Tongy Baby?"

Ling Tong coloured as furiously as Chan had, and his glare faltered, making him look slightly humiliated. He dug the toe of his left foot into the ground in a whiny, childish manner, whilst Gan Ning put his hands behind his back and leaned forward to Tong, smirking. "Tong's a lame fighter. He can't think of _anything _to come back with."

The little scene unfolding in front of Chan looked so childish that it was hard to believe that these were two, muscled, burly grown men arguing in front of her. It was humorous in an astounding way.

Ning's eyes flickered to where Chan stood wondering whether to laugh at the pair, or walk off in the opposite direction to annoy someone else, and as if he could sense her little personal battle, he cocked his head to a side with a pursed smile, and turned to walk away.

Tong was fighting his own personal battle, deliberating on whether to go after Ning. He was twitching like an unwilling to be defeated little kid, fists clenched beside his thighs, his expression completely stoic.

Eventually, as Ning began to disappear into the mellow mist, he made a pathetic face at Chan, and muttered, "I've got a straw to pick." With this, he marched off after the tinkling sound of bells, his legs moving so fast that they were nearly a comical blur. He looked like an angry little mechanic man. Chan watched him go with a sad smile. She was now alone once more, gazing across at the many soldiers passing in and out of the fog and their tents, and officers and generals huddled around wooden tables and fencing, carefully staked in to the wet, muddy ground.

Her eyes sweeping over the campsite, they eventually landed on an armour clad, bronze haired, tanned boy. Her husband stood beside Sun Quan and two other officers she did not recognize, bending carefully over a small, thinly structured table, which was messy atop with maps and quills, various pieces of navigational equipment and writing tools.

Hesitating on the grass for a minute, pulling the sleeves of her top down and clutching the ends in her fists, she began to trudge slowly closer to the group, wincing as she noticed the large, splodges of green grass stain, mushed against the hems of the bottoms messily.

_Mother is going to condemn me alone for a day in a room with him_, Chan shuddered, the most painful punishment her mother could think of popping into her dazed mind.

The closer she approached the small table, standing a few metres away so that she would not be taken notice of, pretending to watch other soldiers and the antics of the campsite, the clearer she could see the face of Lu Xun. His penetrating eyes were lost in the paperwork that he leaned over, large, dark bags underneath his eyes as he screwed up his perfect face in abstruse concentration. A hand tore away from the paperwork to ruffle up his hair away from his eyes in agitation, and he turned his face in the direction of Chan to mutter something urgently to Quan, his eyebrows raising with his speech, his hand which had come free of his hair now moving about in the air in order to exaggerate a point. He looked so… clever. He knew exactly what he was doing, not thrown in at the deep end, but possibly the most understanding man at the table, his body language showing how in control of the situation he was. He was easily, by far the youngest general, looking more like a young boy in comparison to the elderly soldiers and officers around them.

His eyes caught sight of Chan, and his brow furrowed, not in agitation… but in a completely different sentiment which she could not quite grasp. As soon as his eyes met hers, the fluttering feeling came about her once more, and she suddenly felt as if everyone around her was aware of her shivering, out of place presence on the battlefield. The sudden burst of emotion flowing through her stomach corroded the sudden pang of homesickness and 'tent-fever' as Ling Tong called it, all other concerns evaporating.

Chan gave a deep intake of breath and looked down at the grass awkwardly, feeling foolish for stepping too close to Xun's work, the real side of the man.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Lu Xun excusing himself from the group and walking over to her, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiling serenely at the campsite around him, his golden hair ruffling against the struggles of the breeze. Sun Chan felt like she had been watching him walk flawlessly over to her for a century when he eventually reached, giving a squinted smile at her for the first time with only the girl herself in his company.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked, craning and scratching his neck absent mindedly, his eyes still focused on Sun Chan's abashed countenance.

She wallowed in his god-like aura for a second, before giving an uncertain smirk and nodding heavily. "Y-yes."

Xun nodded back gently and looked up at the sky, constricting his eyes against the impact of the bright sky.

Chan followed his gaze before drooping slightly, her eyes fixing on a butterfly near the ground, which was aloft and winding through the blades of grass without a care in the world. "It is weird… being away from home, I mean." She added quickly, as Lu fixed her with a frown, his grimace clearing into sympathy as he eyed her.

"Yes, it 's your first time away." He stated obviously, turning slightly to a side and gesturing with a hand for her to follow him.

They stepped out into the main part of the campsite, alive with a buzz of mixed excitement and apprehension; a feel of adrenaline coursing violently through the air. Chan could practically feel the thousands of soldiers' hearts beating ten to the dozen in the ground under her feet. Large, well-groomed horses were patiently being saddled and equipped nearby, hooves grinding into the mud, swords were being sharpened up against large bronze rollers and soldiers were comparing the shine of their armour amongst themselves. They walked through the section, passing close by a large metal sharpener, Chan's eyes widening as golden, whizzing sparks flew from it to dart nearby her nose threateningly. She flinched at an awkward angle and ended up brushing against Lu Xun's shoulder roughly.

"Whoops," she cringed as she jumped away from him fervently, righting herself without making eye contact, sheepishly catching up with his stride.

"Aren't these men scared?" Chan asked as she caught up with him, picking a blade of grass out of the hem in the bottom of her trousers, awkwardly reaching down to her feet mid-step and nearly bumping into Xun once more.

Xun stopped nearby a larger tent, swords and spears rested up against the strongly woven sides of the material, inside many men could be seen being given weapons, familiarising with the bow and arrow, adjusting to their new tools of the trade.

"They did volunteer," Xun remarked, his eyes carefully watching Chan for her reaction, seeing no flicker of change he instead followed her gaze to the soldiers inside the tent, "indeed to go out and… kill innocent people." He quoted her from earlier, the distaste and nerve obvious in his strained voice.

Chan feebly began to pluck at the hems of her sleeves once more, pretending to show interest in her new hobby instead of bothering to let her husband acknowledge she had heard him. She struck gold with an attempt to clear the air, stating, "You seem to be very much in your element though…"

Xun looked down at her, his golden eyes penetrating into hers, full of mixed emotion. "Why do you say that?"

Chan shrugged, picking at the hem once more, struggling with a rebellious string of material, which refused to come free of the tangle on the hem, "when you were at that table just now… you seemed to be so… in control. Like you know everything that has to be done, and what's going to happen if everything doesn't work properly." Her eyes snapped up to his face, and he knew by the way she gave a humbled blush that she was apologising for underestimating him before.

He smiled at her.

She smiled back.

"I'm s – the pair both began to stutter at once, before they both blushed and shut up, grinning widely at each other in embarrassment. Lu Xun rubbed his eyes tiredly, gesturing with his free hand, the golden cuff on his armour catching the sunlight and glinting merrily.

"Go on," he encouraged, looking down at her.

Chan rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry I was so… aggressive, the other day. I'm not at my best, right now. What I said was out of order, and completely…"

"Stupid."

"Yeah," relief flooded through her, she clung to it like a drowning girl in desperate need of a life raft.

Lu Xun looked away from her and crossed his arms over his burly chest. "I was going to say exactly the same thing."

"Then we're even," Chan mused, studying his face once more, his gaze intense with passion as he looked on at the soldiers, his men.

"You could say that."

Before letting him say another word, she turned to face him, grabbing his full attention successfully and taking a deep breath dramatically; ready to ask a question which she was desperate to find the answer to. His intense, probing eyes made her blurt out the question without really considering how to go about wording it.

"Um, how did I get to my tent last night? I mean…" she hastily continued to expand her question as Xun's ears began to tone from tan to pink. "I mean, what happened? I don't remember anything after I fell asleep in the carriage…I awoke and we were here? Why am I placed so separately from everyone else?"

Suddenly, Xun looked like a young boy again; his chin had a stubborn set to it, and he blushed all over, his high-rank strategist aura ebbing away in the moment. "Well…" he stuttered, looking down with newfound interest at his shoes, "you fell asleep… I didn't want you being neglected and all…"

Chan was nodding along with a newfound fondness for her husband, a slight smile creeping across her lips, her mouth opening ever so slightly.

"…so I found you a tent which was away from the commotion… so that you could, um, rest peacefully without being awoken. I mean, so that you were away from any harm. I mean… so that you were out of the way… of…uh, proceedings."

_How sweet,_ Chan thought to herself, touched for a second by the warmth of his words.

He ruined the moment by adding, "honestly, I did have better things to be doing."

With that, his swivelled on the spot and stalked off with his nose in the air, his face a brilliant canvas of red blush.

Chan scowled. _Unbelievable._

* * *

Well… this was boring. Chan lay across the grass back in the campsite, with a grumpy guard patrolling the tented area as her only company. Most of the soldiers had 'marched off' according to Sun Quan, and the higher generals were still discussing their stratagem in a nearby, larger tent. She plucked at the wet grass tiredly, her chin falling to rest on the mud, any sense of tidy, clean clothing taken away with the leave of the soldiers. She mumbled to herself wearily, only pausing to squint up at a young soldier who had marched across to her, and was now bending down in a weird squat in a manner, which suggested he needed her attention.

"Um, Lady Lu?"

"Mmmhmm…?" Chan drawled, turning her face to a side on the grass and gazing up at the soldier in a bored fashion.

"Could you pass on a message to Master Lu Xun, please?" The soldier straightened up in an official manner, whilst Chan waved him along with a scowl.

"Yes yes… what is it?"

"Um, we have a Grade 2 at Supply Base 8." He announced formally, nodding with his statement. "Not too important," he added, with a cock of his head, ignoring Chan's absolute bewilderment to what he was going on about, "but could you pass it on anyway when you see him?"

"O-of course…" Chan stuttered, making to stand up. The soldier hesitated beside her for a moment, looking quite at loss for words or thought when he saw her muddied clothes, before scurrying off quietly toward another tent.

Chan shrugged the situation over and decided to go straight to Lu Xun, finding herself at the large tent full of officers a few minutes later. She willed herself to go inside, bu felt as if she was intruding, she was a shabby, inadequate wife, stranded on the campsite. Would they just ignore her presence?

Could she knock, possibly? Maybe then they could either choose to ignore her, or let her in…

She was about to rap with her knuckles on the flap, before she realised what she was doing. _Idiot,_ Chan scolded herself for being so dumb, and instead just marched straight inside the flap, awkwardly dusting down her clothes of mud and grass blades as she did so.

Seven, well-respected pairs of eyes turned to face her from inside the grand officer tent. It really was huge inside, red cloth used as curtain, gold embroidery and fancy furniture gave Chan the impression she was back home, inside her own room, and a large, mahogany wood table was covered in the middle of the tent, with various maps and papers. Lu Xun's expression looked pained as he caught sight of his wife. Sun Quan himself looked vaguely amused.

"Yes, Chan?" Xun asked, leaning with one palm on the table and facing her decisively.

Chan blinked at her onlookers, and managed to stutter out, with lack of confidence, "um… I have a message… there's a, uh… Grade 8 at Supply 2?"

As soon as the words had escaped her throat, the onlookers switched gazes to one another with panicked expressions. Quills were dropped, maps were tossed aside and the officers began to rush toward her out of the door with a sudden raucous air, the tent became filled with various swear words and profanities, and Lu Xun gave her a grave look before passing out of the tent flap behind her. There was a string of chaotic exits from the tent, before all was calm and Chan was left alone and confused in the doorway.

Hadn't the soldier said a Grade 8? Did that possibly mean, 'we're all gonna die so lets send in the officials now?' It _was_ Supply Base 2, Grade 8?

Her messenger hadn't seemed as if he was in a rush to deliver the information at all; though the way the officers had stormed out of the tent, if was as if judgement day had arrived for all.

It didn't matter if she had mixed up the message, Chan told herself, what could possibly go wrong?

She exited the tent with nothing more on her mind than an urgent decision to make, about what she would wear the next day in the campsite…


	9. 9

I'M SO FED UP OF BEING FRICKING **SINGLE**!

…

R&R please, my lovelies. I feel like chattering. Message me, someone.

_**9**_

Wind whistled through the thin crack at the opening of the mess tent, the flaps at the entrance swatting harshly at the soldiers who bustled loudly inside. At a table in the far right-hand corner of the tent, the sudden commotion clicked Chan out of her thoroughly enjoyable daydream. Shaking her head to escape from her thoughts, she grudgingly made a return to reality.

She gave a wide smile to the security soldier, who was oh-so-obviously a bodyguard, most likely assigned to watch her by one of the higher ranking officers who blatantly did not wish for her to be messed up in the affairs of the army. Namely her lovely pyromaniac of a husband.

Her husband, on the one occasion, had not chosen well; Fei was a bodyguard with an obvious penchant for wanting to irritate; he constantly wore a sour, sullen mask of expression, and on the rare moment which Chan daringly made an attempt at conversation, he gave her a monotonous grunt, along with a dramatic roll of his eyes which sent his pupils straight to the back of his head. The effect gave him an air of a sumo wrestler stuck in a permanently drunk stupor.

This lovely friend of hers perked his head when the other soldiers came stampeding in, and he seemed to sniff the air slightly, as if sensing something wasn't right. He stomped grumpily over to one of the newcomers, muttering something to him in quiet mumblings. Chan was surprised he could do more than grunt. She watched the pair for a minute, confusion clouding over her bodyguards face, and then sudden shock, which faded away to relief after a quick reassurance from the foot soldier. Eventually, Fei indicated Chan to him, inclining his chin toward her and narrowing his eyes. With this, he stalked out of the tent in a fluster, and the soldier, after a quizzical minute of staring after him, approached Chan herself.

He gave an awkward bow, half inclining down to where she sat before straightening pompously. "Some of the generals have returned for a while. Master Lu Xun requests you to visit him."

_Well, Master Bloody Lu Xun will have to live without me, _she carefully restrained herself from snapping back, though instead gave a loud sigh, with an aggravated wobble of her head. "Yes… whatever."

The soldier eyed her carefully, raising an eyebrow at her scathing tone. "It sounds like you aren't getting on with your husband, then."

Chan wasn't particularly paying attention, until his rash statement finally sunk in, and she pursed her lips in sarcastic distaste, "none of your beeswax, lowly little man."

"I guessed not."

Chan scowled again, for what must have been the hundredth time that day. Maybe the wind _had _changed, and made her expression permanently stoic. She didn't really have the will to smile right now, what with all these little idiotic soldiers ordering her around, etc.

The soldier inclined his head toward the tent flap, and he turned on the spot to walk out, gesturing for Chan to follow him, his hand waving her along harshly, indicating that she really didn't have much of a choice about her rendezvous with 'Master Lu Xun'.

On the way to his tent, Chan began to mentally prepare herself for the voice raising, which was sure to come. What would their conflict be about this time? She began to string together random insults in order to win over her husband in the newest argument, attempting to come up with a decent, scathing pique, which she could cunningly set against him. She wasn't mean, at all.

She frowned over a sentence which sounded cutting enough, and decided for a third party opinion. "Umm, random soldier?"

Random Soldier gave her a look, which suggested that he was surprised someone as open to humiliation as her was married to Lu Xun. "Yes, Mrs. Troubled Marriage?"

"Ooh, that stung," Chan dramatically whined, scurrying alongside him in the mud, marvelling silently at how excessively long his legs were. "Anyway, how do you think this sounds, as an insult?" She paused for a theatrical inhalation of air, before bursting out with, "at least I'm not too rat-brained to realise I'm not actually clever, just a pretty-boy who gets away with everything because of his looks?"

Random Soldier shook his head sadly, scuffing the grass as he walked with his feet, slipping into a more casual swagger. "You have much to learn about the art of offence." He leaned his head closer to her, and used his hands to gesture his point, "you see, that was too much of a mouthful. How about… 'You're not really clever, in fact rat-brained, and just another pretty boy?'"

"Hmm."

"You see what I mean, now."

"Indeed."

They approached the front of the large, grander tent a few seconds later, Chan nearly stumbling straight into the thick material due to her state of deep thunk.

She took a deep breath and gazed up at the top of the tent; above the roof she could see stars beginning to shine out from the pale pink frenzy of sky, the evening slowly giving way to the inky night.

"Well bye then… I guess." Chan realised sadly, her heart beginning to thud as she thought of how, a minute later, she would be alone with her husband. Her heart began to thump nervously, and she felt a rush of… well… adrenaline course through her. It reminded her of a crush she had lingered over for a few years, back when she was younger. But she didn't have a twitchy schoolgirl crush on her husband. It was against the laws of attraction to love someone you hate.

"Bye, Lady… whatever you are."

Chan smiled weakly, giving a small, nervous wave, twiddling her fingers awkwardly. With closer observation, she realised that they were violently shaking.

Random Soldier noticed too, and gave a sorry smirk, shaking his head and turning to walk away. "Oh dear," he stated as he swivelled away, giving Chan a smile over his shoulder before leaving her shivering outside Lu Xun's tent.

She gritted her teeth in acrimony for a second, before rolling up her satin sleeves decisively, as if going into a wrestling match. She bowed her head before thrusting aside the tent folds and marching inside the large tent with force.

"Good evening my lovely rat-brai –

Her insult tailed off into the still, evening air as she caught sight of her husband.

"Oh my… goodness… are you… are you ok?"

Chan found herself rushing over to where he sat weakly in a chair, his face tightened in a mask of pain and his arms forcefully clasped to those of the chair, as if clenching down against inconceivable pain. "Do I look ok?" He asked sarcastically, but with loss of venom, just a twinge of regret.

He really didn't. His beautiful face was damaged, a long swipe of cut brazen across his tanned cheeks, deep and painful, oozing with putrid red. He had been battered; his chest was bare and there were several red blotches from where he'd been battered about roughly; though it was no time to drool over his body, some of the red-blotches were already bruising dangerously.

Chan was at a loss for words; she desperately wanted to reach out and touch his unwounded cheek in reassurance, though she felt powerless and timid. How could she possibly have been dreaming up the perfect insult whilst he sat in here, wounded and in deep pain? She felt unworthy for the first time in her life; a stab in her heart as she realised she had been lazing about in the mess tent, worrying of nothing more than her state of dress, as her husband himself had been giving his life for his kingdom.

Rising from where she had been crouched beside his chair, she looked awkwardly round the tent, spying a squeaky clean washbasin and a dirtied cloth over on a nearby trestle table. She scurried over to it, awkwardly attempting to scrub off the dirt of the cloth onto her messy top, becoming strangely squeamish in a matter of seconds. She acrimoniously threw the cloth into the basin, filling it with fresh water from a canteen stood conveniently on the small table.

Lu Xun gave her a grateful smile as she came toward him with the basin and cloth, though as she gracelessly lunged at his cheek with the cloth, he felt a sudden urge to duck away from her boisterousness.

"Woah," he moved his head back against the rest of the chair and widened his eyes. "Give your wounded husband a break, right?"

Chan coloured crimson, before giving an apologetic grimace and shyly extending her hand once more. Lu Xun painfully resisted the urge to scream and run for the hills, as he guessed many men had done before when in the incapable hands of Chan. However when the cloth touched against the swipe on his cheek, he found that the warmth which came from her shaking hands eroded most of the pain. He failed to embrace the awkward moment by looking down at his feet.

"Why didn't you go to a medical tent?" Chan asked him softly, her normal, loud tones disappearing into a hushed, caring whisper. Lu Xun shrugged, instantly regretting so as he felt a smack of pain from a bruise on his shoulder. He winced, and then just shook his head wryly as Chan took her hand away to re-dampen the cloth.

"I wasn't as important as the other soldiers. They were much more wounded than me; some of them were fighting for their lives back in the medical area, literally." A violent shudder of memory accompanied his memories, and he fixed Chan with a look. "I'm lucky, compared to them."

"What happened to you?"

Xun rolled his eyes, his gaze shifting to where his fingers awkwardly drummed on the arm of the chair, taking his mind off of the pain that swarmed through his body. "I just got into a bit of trouble when I was fighting." He considered for a minute, before continuing morosely, "we had a complete screw up in the force, a soldier passed on the wrong message, which eventually got to you."

Chan's hand froze on his cheek, the bloodied cloth falling slightly from her hand. She managed to tense her arm once again before he noted the change in atmosphere. She realised now; it was _her_ who had passed on the wrong message to the officials; _she_ had screwed up orders…

"Oh, right…" She contributed with an over-exaggerating shrug of her shoulders.

"It was awful. When Quan finds out who did it… I pity that poor man."

Chan let out a cowards gulp.

Xun continued as if she had had no reaction to his condemnation, idly reaching up and scratching the back of his neck carefully, grinding his teeth against the pain. He continued, in a carefree manner. "Apparently it had actually been a Grade 2 incident. That's obviously not as bad as Grade 8. Grade 8 pretty much means, drop everything, we're all gonna die." His laugh tinkled sweetly in the air, though it shot through Chan like a spearhead. "A Grade 2 situation is just, 'we've lost some supplies, so what'. We approached this base, one of our most important supply ones, to find out that nothing had even happened." His expression turned grim, and he sighed down to the floor, "When we returned to another base we found out that it had been taken forcefully, and we were ambushed. The enemy took complete advantage of our mistake."

In her head, in between the many vicious thoughts which were whizzing about soundlessly, she cursed herself with every possibly profanity she could dream of.

Chan dumped the cloth back into the basin, her arms tensing even more than before just to make an attempt at pausing the shaking sensation which had flooded through her limbs. She bit her lip as she placed the now stained red basin back onto the table, receiving the familiar feeling of a guilty toddler. Having turned away from her husband, who was easing himself out of the armchair behind her, she swore colourfully under her breath, in a hushed tone which only she could hear, pressing her fingers into her forehead so harshly that she felt the jab of her crusty nails.

"Are you ok?" Came the voice of Xun from behind her. His tone held just a hint of worry; and it was the first time that he had actually showed any inclination of feeling for her.

"Uh, yes." Chan nodded forcefully, swivelling on the spot to smile guiltily up at him. He was very close.

A bit too close, inside her personal bubble, you could say.

Chan raised her eyebrows with a pursed smile, clicking her tongue in her mouth and averting her eyes to swing her gaze around the tent, pretending to take an interest in the fabulous art deco.

"Sure?"

Chan nodded her head so ferociously that she was pretty damn surprised it didn't plop right off from her neck and onto Xun's bare feet. "I'm missing home." She lied, raising her eyes to the roof of the tent and holding back guilty tears. Guilty, hormonal and homesick was an interesting combination. She suddenly felt the urge to hug someone, wishing that either Xiao or Shang were here right now. They were skilled huggers, in fact.

And Xun did just that, not even hesitantly, much to Chan's surprise. She was taken aback as he moved closer to her and wrapped his strong arms around her, properly enclosing her, his bare chest emanating warmth onto her shivering figure. Most likely she would have fallen to the floor in shock if he hadn't had such a strong grip on her smaller frame.

And it was such an embrace, that it overcame the law of, well, hugs. She was being held, properly, his soft, unwounded cheek pressing against hers, his strong chin resting on her shoulders. She felt protected from the outside world of kingdoms, battles and orders; time gradually slowed to a peaceful halt as the pair just revelled in each other's embrace.

_Woooow. _

Still, you can often leave it to a girl to spoil the moment.

It was such a shock that he had stepped forward to pull her into his arms like an actual human being which felt emotion, rather than a pissy war general, made her make the snap decision that he wouldn't really care that it was in fact, her who had screwed up the message, causing the battle to turn greatly in Shu's favour. Why would he possibly care now? He was being too abnormally adorable to possibly want to stamp his feet indignantly and scream and swear. A tearful pout from Chan herself would soon make him see the error of his ways, anyway.

So she whispered her confession into his ear.

And it was like a jolt of electricity had snatched him away from her, though his yell caught in her ear as he pulled away, painfully ringing loudly throughout her head.

"WHAT?!"

She attempted her tearful pout.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT FOR, YOU IDIOT?"

Oh dear.


	10. 10

"… and he'd just given me this lovely… adorable hug… and then when I told him about… y'know, he just yelled a bit, went all qu

"… and he'd just given me this lovely… adorable hug… and then when I told him about… y'know, he just yelled a bit, went all quiet suddenly, and made me leave his tent." Chan finished her mumblings and leant back more into the comfort of the cushioned chair in Ling Tong's tent, cradling her warm mug of tea to her chest like a baby. She revelled in the warmth it gave her, shivering slightly against the frost of the still evening.

They were the only pair in the tent; other officers were still in the field, their conflict raging on throughout the creepy nighttime of the dusty plains.

Ling Tong considered, also taking full advantage of his warm mug. "Hmm…"

Chan giggled, in spite of the night's events, at Tong. He looked slightly whimsical, his eyes narrowed as he thought about her situation, his gaze following along the patterns in the lacing of the tent roof above. "I do believe you should have seduced him and made him realise that you are never in fact, in the wrong and that he shouldn't become so irritated by you."

"Oh, you're witty."

"Incredibly." Tong nodded in appreciation, satisfied.

In lieu of the evening, looking back with a grimace over the surreal events of the past few weeks, Chan realised that absolutely nothing was going to win her husband over. He hated her, loathed her.

So why did he pull her into his arms and hug her as if he actually gave an idiot's shit?

Chan traced a delicate finger around the rim of the mug, her nail scraping against the blue pattern of the sides, "Tong?" She questioned, her eyes still following her finger with a slight case of cross-eye, "why does he hate me?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

Tong frowned down into his mug, all traces of tea disappeared, a small cluster of leaves squashed into the sides of the bottom. "I have no idea."

Chan continued, sighing and placing her exhausted tea to a side, her fingers gently letting loose of the handle slowly as she tried to get her head around her husband; something which was definitely easier said than done. "But he's so lovely to everyone else…"

Tong nodded, shifting in his chair to cross his legs underneath himself, his hands clutching onto his ankles, making him look like a constipated frog. "That's whats weird, to be honest. Before you arrived on the scene, he was like, this clever, talented, gorgeous juvenile. He's so nice to everyone, and he doesn't normally… uh, do that yelling thing."

Chan wasn't sure what to ask first. A little voice in her head had spectacularly oo-er'd at Tong's description of Lu Xun.

She copied his posture, neatly tucking her legs underneath herself and folding her arms across her chest so as to not look like so much of a frog as he did. "Firstly," she began, holding up a single finger with a cock of her head, "so, all in all, Lu Xun has turned into a rat-brained pretty boy –

- that's a good comment." Tong interjected.

Chan beamed. "All due to my new friend. Anywho, as I was saying before you rudely interrupted, Lu Xun has turned into… a… well, a not very nice person, just because of me?"

Tong considered again, and then shook his head. "Uh, no. He's really nice to all of us, still."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. You know, he told me the funniest joke today, right; so you have three fishermen, Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao in a boat –

"Ssh."

"Sorry."

Chan sat back in her chair once more, blinking about the room. This man was mental (Lu Xun, she was talking about here, though Tong was closely in second place for the award), he had some kind of… split personality.

"You were going to ask me something else?" Tong asked, smiling slightly at her situation of complete bemused disbelief.

Chan shook her head to escape the thoughts of her husband, and instead faced Tong with a faraway smile. "Yes… oh right! Well… I was actually wondering…" She decided a build up to the question would be appropriate. It gave a dramatic edge to things; and she grinned into her query. "Well, since you were just being oh-so-totally swoony over MY husband, I was um… thinking… um. Are you, part of the… you know… flowery frilly scene?"

Tong's jaw opened ever so slightly, and his eyes narrowed and widened again. "What are you rambling about?"

"Areyougay?" She bumbled in one quick breath, pouting her lips in an awkward manner. She looked very pleased with herself, thought Tong.

He spluttered for a minute, before collecting his wits and remembering that he was the cool, sarcastic one. "Obviously, and Gan Ning and I are attempting in vain to keep our passionate love under wraps." He raised his eyebrows and pressed a finger to his lips in a 'hush-hush' motion. "Please don't tell." He reminded her dryly.

For a minute. Chan believed him. "Are you serious? Oh my god…"

"Of course I'm not bloody serious, you twit."

"But you didn't exactly deny it."

"So?"

"That means you're gay," Chan nodded with an unfortunate purse of her lips, taking in a breath as if talking to a confused minor.

Tong frowned. "No wonder Lu Xun bloody hates you. You're fricking annoying."

Chan actually felt a sudden pang at his words, sinking back into the comforting chair cushions. It really was true. She admitted this to herself while idly flicking the folded material on her trousers, her mood switching violently away from her joy at Ling Tong's gayness, toward the morose truth about her relationship with her husband.

Tong noticed when she didn't reply, and instantly feeling guilty, he gave a sympathetic roll of his eyes and slid slowly from his chair to kneel beside Chan on the floor. He instantly felt the chill of the evening engulf him, and he edged closer to where her feet dangled off the cushions. "Cheer up, Channy." He whispered, reaching up to stroke away a lock of hair from her face, which had fallen over her right eye in a particularly angsty fashion. He sat up, straightening his back and looking Chan square in the eyes. "Don't let Lu Xun phase you, ok?"

Chan just nodded, standing up from her chair, Tong deciding to back away in case of a fall – what with her being renowned for her idiotic clumsiness. He stood up beside her, and being a head taller, he towered over her small frame. He punched her playfully in the arm as she continued to stare, wide-eyed at the floor; unresponsive.

"What can I do to help?" He asked truthfully, becoming tired of her sudden mood swings.

Chan stood stock still for a minute, before she decided upon something.

With a newfound burst of energy, she shot up onto her tiptoes and pecked Tong on the lips with perfect aim. She instantly shrunk back down again after the light knock, and pressed her clammy hands together in front of her chest.

Apart from Tong's sudden, frozen stature, there was absolutely no change in atmosphere for Chan. She felt suddenly disappointed, not really knowing what she was expecting. Possibly an answer to how to deal with men? Was she maybe looking for a connection here, with her friend, which she couldn't find with her husband?

Tong continued to stare at a point behind Chan's head, completely unmoving, his eyes wide in surprise.

"That was weird, wrong, and stupid." Tong stated, with loss of emotion in his voice. He continued to stare at the back of the tent for a second, before blinking slowly and coming back to earth. He looked at Chan sternly. "In that order, too."

Chan felt colour rush into her cheeks with a vengeance, she let out a heavy sigh and at the same time, stared straight up at the ceiling. "I know… I'm sorry… I'm just so confused. And upset… and DAMN UNDERVALUED!"

Ling Tong jumped back a step at her sudden outburst, only to look back and find that she was beginning to cry. Large, hurtful tears were welling up in her eyes, and her cheeks were beginning to turn incredibly blotchy. He curled his lip in distaste. Only God knew what to do with a hormonal woman like this.

"Slow down, girl. Stop crying, and get back to your husbands bloody tent. I don't care if you have to scream and shout to get yourself inside, but you're gonna sort this relationship out."

"O-ok…" Chan sniffed, a whine escaping her throat as she rubbed her eyes blearily. She shuddered as Tong pushed her out into the night air. "I don't know what all that was about…" she whined again, getting evermore worked up; her cries sounding completely fake, however too true.

"Go on, you mess of emotions."

Tong gave her a shove in the small of her back, directing her toward where Lu Xun's tent was located. He stepped back toward his own tent and folded his arms, throwing her a stern look, shaking his ponytail out into the night air, his dark locks falling about his shoulders. "Go on. Go and talk to him." He told her, before stalking back into his own tent and dropping the flap behind him, blatantly annoyed.

Chan hugged herself in the night air, gazing around at the deserted campsite, looking above to the twinkling stars for a gust of reassurance. Finding none, she gave Tong's tent a grudging nod and tottered slowly off toward the entrance to Lu Xun's tent.

Here she was, once again. She hesitated before calling out to him to ask for admittance. What was she thinking back there? She must have scared poor Tong out of his wits, leaping on him like that. Why couldn't her relationship with her husband be so carefree and easy as that of with her friend Ling Tong? Why couldn't she feel glorious smile creep across her face at the recognition of a friend, instead of nervous butterflies on a flying crash course inside her body, which made her both overwhelmed with embarrassed swoons, but also up her probability rate of doing something completely stupid?

She shook her head in complete bewilderment; she didn't even know herself.

"…yeah, I love you too."

Chan felt a whoosh of awareness upon hearing her husband in the tent; though Lu Xun hadn't spoken directly to her. Practising his chat up lines, perhaps? Chan smiled in spite of herself, preparing to go inside.

"I guess you'll have to tell… your wife, soon enough."

The woman's voice stabbed deep into Chan's soul most of all.

Lu Xun wasn't alone.

"I know," came his soft reply, his beautiful voice tugging gently at Chan's heart-strings. She moved closer to the tent, her pulse beginning to thump so loudly that she was surprised the pair inside the tent couldn't in fact hear it. Her body had frozen inside, the warmth which had occurred as she approached the tent originally, fading into an icy stupor. Thousands of questions began to flood her mind, and she had to strain to hear what was happening inside, cursing her brain for going into overdrive.

She could have sworn her ears had perked up as his husky voice spoke once more, "She won't like it… at all… but I guess otherwise she'll find out sooner or later. We don't really get on at all, anyway. It probably won't matter to her particularly."

Her tears from under a minute ago returned to haunt her, flooding her eyesight in a jerk reaction to his crass dismissal of her feelings. That was all their relationship was… a wave of his hand and a brief statement that summed up their entire situation. His feelings could be evaluated in a short, dismissing sentence.

Could hers?

"I'm sorry to cause any trouble to you…" came the dulcet tones of the woman. His love interest? Just her voice was beautiful; her vocals were silky and slipped off her tongue with what could have easily been sugar lacing. Sick rose up inside Chan's stomach, and she hunched her shoulders, clenching her fists in order to get a grip on herself. What would Xun ever see in Chan… when he had this proper speaking, seemingly well articulated woman? Just in voice and delivery, it sounded like Chan could not hold a candle. The way Lu Xun responded made this much more believable.

"You don't cause any trouble at all!" He protested, making the woman give a melodic laugh; resounding in the air much like the way Xun's did.

"Thankyou…"

"It's fine. You have no idea how relieved I am to be able to talk to you in private like this."

In _private_.

Ooh.

Chan mentally slapped her wrists; physically doing so would just break the silence and also the thick, heavy atmosphere that wafted out like a sickly sweet aroma from the tent itself.

"I don't think I could stand another minute with that girl." Xun stated dryly, provoking another blissful giggle from the woman. Chan felt disgusted, and she felt the urge to give a loud scream. Not being a woman who could easily control her emotions, she managed to bite down harshly on her fist to stop any sound coming from her mouth.

Suddenly, footsteps began to approach the tent entrance from inside. Xun was leaving. And possibly Miss Bombshell.

Chan suddenly felt skitters rise inside her, and she wondered what on earth to do with herself. Dash behind the tent? No; she would almost definitely trip over a peg and cause commotion. She swirled on the spot, her feet digging into the ground as she pondered over whether to make a beeline or pretend to be a very unattractive statue.

The tent flap was thrown open, and Chan was discovered, hopping about on her patch of grass looking like a child desperately needing to pee.

Lu Xun stared at her; though not in the manner which a cheating husband would do if his wife had just discovered him whispering with the other woman. Chan made a face, which pretty much translated as, 'fancy seeing you here? What _are_ the odds?' and gave a slightly sarcastic wave.

"Chan," Xun stated, strolling up to her, giving an abnormally weak smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Admiring yo – the scenery." She blurted out, with a great amount of head-nodding. His one raised eyebrow made her continue shamelessly, and she gestured around at the dark campsite with a hand, "I mean, it's very beautiful."

Xun nodded, at a much more realistic pace than Chan. "Yes, the tents and the mud are just gorgeous." He remarked dryly, shrugging over at a fine specimen of a rundown tent to his left with a wry smile.

Chan nodded fervently, cursing herself mentally.

"I-I'm sorry about earlier…" Chan finally gasped, deciding upon shutting her large gob and taking a step back. He was sure to yell, now.

Xun just fixed her with another grimace, his smile disappearing along with the awkward atmosphere. "Well… we can talk about that tomorrow. Bye."

His last word was said particularly pointedly, and he widened his eyes and looked down at his feet with a small sigh in order to give her the impression that she should scoot.

Chan felt like giving a hilariously witty reply, just to scythe him further, something along the lines of, 'just do like your personality, and split,' though she found that she could not muster up the will or energy to do it. She felt suddenly deflated.

"Yes… bye." She found herself frowning up at the stars, scrunching her eyes up in vain, to stop the tears beginning to flow. She began to trudge away, leaving Lu Xun behind in the dark, her feet slipping carefully across the grass as her pace quickened along with her tears. In an instant, she was running, running to escape that last expression on his face; one of complete irritation and carefree boredom.

She eventually crashed violently into her tent, landing in a crumple on her bed, curling up where she had landed to shield herself from the cold which came from both the outside, harsh breeze, and the one which arose inside her.

Muffling into her hair, she began to breathe out loudly, finally letting her thoughts become considered.

She no longer had the will to insult or offend her husband in any way; since she didn't want to. She never ever wished to argue with him again, because she wanted so badly for something to happen. Just one fizz of romance could spark off a new relationship. But she was being held back – someone else was in her way, a beautiful danger, which caught the eye of her husband, before Chan herself could handle his attention.

She was in a relationship, all right. It was just pitifully one-sided.


	11. 11

_I wrote this in a state of half-sleep, drinking one of my amazingly-well-mad choclate milkshakes and listening to some random DW soundtrack songs on shuffle. This would be the result._

_Hopefully the next chapter will be of slightly better quality. I'm sorry; writers block has seem to have taken over - I got some really awful grades for my exams at school recently and have honestly lost the will to care._

_On a lighter note, thankyou for the lovely reviews; I'm trying to keep up my reviews on other peoples stories; but as you know I seem to have to write an essay everytime I give a review nowadays. Bear with me :)_

11

As Chan entered the mess tent the next morning, still not having adjusted to the early starts of the officers in the ways of war, a cheerful bout of roars and yells came from the soldiers inside.

She rubbed her eyes and squinted at the people who sat at the tables, all turned to face her with wide smiles. She noticed a large figure approach through the fog, which happened to be her morning vision, and eyed him warily. The large burly pirate Gan Ning came into view, and striding over, he clapped his hand on Chan's back loudly. "Awesome girl! You've made your first ass-up!" He boomed with approval.

Chan backed away from his hand, narrowing her eyes as he made to guide her over to a table. "Everyone cocks up at some time, kid. You should have 'eard about what Ling Tong did when I first came along."

Chan just managed to collapse onto the mess bench, shaking her head free of morning-blur and running her palms across her face. With a better sense of focus, she picked out Tong from the crowd of soldiers who now surrounded her; his expression a fruitful glare, which was aimed squarely at Ning. His eyes lit up when they rested on Chan, who rushed forward through the group to hug him tightly around the waist. "I'm sorry about last night," she mumbled into his chest, "what I did was out of order." She broke away from him sheepishly as Ning marched over with a suggestive whistle.

"There's no point in all that, girl." He scorned, narrowing his eyes playfully at Tong, "everyone knows he's a bit of a skirt man."

Tong just put a hand on his hip and curled his lip, scowling childishly at Ning. "What's that meant to mean?"

"You're so blatantly gay, mate."

Chan widened her eyes and turned her palms up to face the ceiling, breaking into their little frowning match. "That's exactly what I thought!" She protested with authority, realising halfway through her statement that she should really be sticking up for her friend. The pathetic attempt at a glower, which came from Tong, made her blush impishly. "Sorry. You're just too lovely and attractive to be straight."

Tong beamed at her comment, the cold shoulder disappearing in an instant. "You think so?" When Chan nodded enthusiastically, he turned back to Ning, "see, I'm just too loveable."

Ning snorted, stepping closer to Tong, who leaned away with evident distaste. "How do you explain all this, then?" Ning asked derisively, tugging at Ling Tong's feathery ponytail and yanking out the ribbon that bound it. "Your airy-fairyness, your girlyness."

Tong yanked his hair from Ning's grip, moving away from the aggressive pirate quickly and slumping down onto the bench beside Chan, leaving his feet on the bench and wrapping his arms around his knees defensively. He leered up at Ning, "those aren't even real words, smartass."

Ning sighed, poking Tong in the shoulder, "definitely gay. Awful." He gave a mock salute to Chan and stalked out of the tent, ruffling his tousled hair as he stretched his arms with a yawn.

"So," Ling Tong began, shaking out his hair behind his head and pulling it up roughly into a messy ponytail, carefully tying the ribbon to a knot whilst he eyed Chan, "did you talk to your husband?"

"Yes," Chan automatically lied, presenting Tong with a well-rehearsed fake smile.

"Right." Tong muttered slowly, his tone unbelieving.

Chan finally made an effort to turn her head away from her disbelieving friend, and smiled at the soldiers who were grouped around the pair. She squinted up at them with a loss of interest. "Why is it so brilliant that I've mucked up?" She asked, confused.

Ling Tong scratched his head and shrugged, while Random Soldier scooted up on the bench beside Chan and responded cheerfully.

"Because it means that you're not better than any of us. And we're all in the same boat. And you're now one of us." He beamed at her as she recognized him.

Chan indicated Random Soldier to Tong with a jerk of her head. "Tong, this is my friend that I was telling you about. Tong, Random Soldier, Random Soldier, Ling Tong." She gestured to each of them respectively, and then slumped in her seat, intertwining her hands in her lap.

Tong shook his head, fondly if anything, at Chan. "Yeah… I'm reckoning Lord Sun Ce bounced her a bit too high on his knee when she was a nipper. Do you actually have a name?"

Random Soldier shook his head tartly and pursed his lips, whilst Chan smirked at their unfolding conversation. "I prefer to be anonymous." He tapped his nose knowingly with a raised eyebrow with added affect. "Plus, its funny to listen to her call me 'Random Soldier', while I can just call her Chan."

"Oh, that's clever." Tong nodded impressively.

"You two could be gay partners." Chan interjected timely, standing up from the bench and crossing her arms over her chest childishly. "You're so…"

"Much more mature than yourself?" Tong droned, his attention shifting away from Chan as an official messenger strode into the tent behind where Chan stood, looking particularly pompous.

"No." Chan stuck her tongue out at him impishly, unaware that the whole group surrounding the trio had come to attention, their interest no longer in Chan, but the messenger. "No," she repeated blandly, wondering why no one was listening, "you're just too incredibly posh, and GAY." She bellowed the last word at Tong, who screwed up his face, leaning away slightly with a cringe as if Chan herself had just spat at his feet. Silence blossomed.

The messenger cleared his throat with a high sense of authority, causing Chan to swivel on the spot, pinpoint her mistake, and shrink back onto the bench with glowing cheeks and wide eyes. "Whoops," she mumbled, whilst Tong nudged her harshly with a bony elbow.

After receiving a query of a stare from the messenger, her proceeded to clearing his throat once more, blinking owlishly and continuing. "It is apparent that we now have a change of plan; our stratagem needs to be reformed, and so all officials above Leading Officer must be present at the officials tent in a few minutes."

Apart from the fact that she understood she would have to be tagging along to Lu Xun's tent in a few minutes to receive an hour of endlessly boring speeches and probably a verbal lashing, Chan had absolutely no idea in the name of Cao Cao's underwear what the messenger was blabbling about.

With an antagonizing sigh, the officer spun on his heel snobbishly, and stalked out. Several people sat around Tong and Chan made to follow him, groaning with reluctance, whispering among themselves conspirationally, picking up their discarded armour and weapons which they had casually thrown aside upon making their way inside.

Tong rolled his eyes, standing from the bench and idly flicking a lock of dark hair from his eyes. He turned, hand on his hip, to eye Chan. "Coming, Mrs Stereotype?"

Chan purposefully rubbed her arm where Tong had rashly elbowed her, "maybe if I knew what all that men's-battle-obsession jargon was about."

"In a nutshell, your husband has absolutely no intention of losing here in the next, say forty-eight hours, and he's decided that a better strategy is going to be needed to win over Liu-peace-bloody-loving-Bei."

Chan considered this for a second, surveying the grassy floor with mild interest. She was still confused; the only woman on the campsite thrown in at the deep end with no help to resurface any time soon. "Right, sure. Will this involve fire, by any chance?"

"If Lu Xun's involved? Most damn likely."

* * *

The one thing which surprised Chan most of all about the cramped, squished meeting inside the officials tent; built for a measly twenty, now being used by at least forty full grown men, and a smaller, irritable young woman (though still needing to desperately diet) to boot, was the way the tension seemed to be slashed away into a thin dust of adrenaline when Lu Xun took to the stand.

Sun Quan had given up attempting to rally the men; who were now sour faced and downput after being told that their positions and jobs were now to be completely reversed in battle. He stepped away, sucking in his breath in an attempt to control his acrimonious, coming outburst of rage, gesturing sharply for Xun to speak to the men.

Chan, oblivious to the proceedings, had been idly rating each soldier in the room out of ten for looks, most likely intelligence, and cheerfulness. She'd given her bitter bodyguard a lowly 1 for intelligence and mood, though she had to admit that she'd been tempted to up his score slightly when his eyes just happened to glint merrily in the sunlight which shot in dazedly through a slit in the tent. The only other man she'd given full marks to was a rather attractive young guy stood nearby Lu Xun, who was, alike Chan, looking thoroughly bored by the proceedings, smirking at a private joke which him and the man stood beside him were sharing.

And then Xun stepped forward to the table.

Every voice went quiet, and everyone turned to watch his every movement, the way he tiredly swept aside the scrolls on the desk with a firm hand, his eyes portraying an evident lack of sleep, the brown irises less alive than usual, dark circles underneath his lower eyelashes, threatening to give him the air of the living dead. His hair, now returned to its dark brown state due to lack of sun reaching the highlights, was mussed about his scalp, unbrushed and tousled.

But he still managed to look completely and utterly astonishing.

Chan found herself colouring and stepping back towards where Tong stood behind her out of sheer humility from just sneaking a glance at his face.

His eyes swept slowly about the now still tent as he began to speak; though Chan's ears had suddenly muted, and all she could focus on was the way his expression changed with his speech; his eyes landing on hers for a second, barely acknowledging her, before returning to the desk beneath him. His hands were flat out, palms down on the wooden table, whilst he leaned forward over the table to speak to everybody else in the room, and it worked; since all eyes were fixated on him, even those of Mr. Gorgeous Rebellious, still stood in the corner with his friend.

"So, we have an advantage, most likely over their camp. It is placed in a particularly vulnerable position; and since we have the opportunity; a fire attack would most likely be appropriate…" at this comment, there were several chortles of laughter, though the owners of the chuckles were laughing along with the young strategist. Chan smiled in spite of herself, as Lu Xun smirked and curled his lip, throwing a sarcastic glance at Chan as a feeble "pyromaniac" was muttered from somewhere in the tent. Chan felt her heart jump, (not quite literally) straight into her throat as he smiled at her, warmly, for once, and she had quite a struggle attempting to force it back down, still gazing longingly at Xun, all traces of pride now discarded.

God, he was beautiful.

Chan mentally smacked herself in the head, attracting several stares from nearby officers as she screwed up her face to rid herself of the mental images, which were now cascading into her mind at a pace that she found hard to control. She felt her shin burst into blooming pain as Tong kicked her roughly, attempting to give her a hand in stopping the animatedly idiotic girl making a complete fool of herself.

"I've heard talk of a stone sentinel maze," Lu Xun continued, as if no one was currently making an ass of herself, his tone delicate in the still air, "apparently designed by Zhuge Liang himself," this statement sent dramatic whispers flying about the air, a buzz of newfound interest arising from the soldiers in the tent.

"Quiet!" Quan commanded, his voice rising higher than Xun's, who winced.

"This shouldn't be a major threat." Xun shrugged, obviously wishing to talk about more pressing matters, "and it is, according to a prisoner, located at the back of the Shu camp. As long as our fire attack succeeds, then we should not have to worry. Liu Bei will not be able to flee from the area; and as a plus our camp is located across the river from theirs; we have the advantage of position."

He turned to Quan, raising his eyebrows and stepping away from the table purposely.

"Right," Quan muttered, directing his voice out to the rest of the tent, its inhabitants now listening with a greater interest due to the high expectations thrown forward by Xun. "The rest of us will be marching off in a few hours; if everyone can begin their preparations upon leaving, then we can make an early start, and get this over and done with."

With this last, particularly pitiful rally, the soldiers gave a light-hearted cheer, several giving each other uneasy looks across the room, and began to turn to file out, Quan yelling optimistic comments over the tops of their heads as they went.

Shrinking back against the tent wall in order not to get in the way of any passing generals and soldiers, Chan twirled her fingers round a ribbon tied into her sleeve with apprehension as she wondered what she should really be doing. The men were to leave for battle; but since she was the only woman, the only non-testosterone war freak, would she be ignored and simply left alone on the mildewy grass in the campsite?

As if reading her mind on a husband-wife brainwave, she turned to eye Lu Xun walking quickly over to where she nervously hopped about on the spot.

"I'm going to be leaving, for I don't know how long," he began as soon as he reached her, gently taking her hand and pulling her further aside from the commotion of the exiting generals, the feel of his soft skin across hers making her heart jolt about manically in her chest. Struggling to control her breathing, she nodded fervently and gestured for him to continue. "You'll be staying here, there'll be a few soldiers to look after you, and I hope that I'll be back soon, when we…"

"Win." Chan interrupted, her tone harsh, her statement short, almost daring him to say otherwise.

He gave a feeble smile, taking his hand from hers, as if realising that he'd left their fingers intertwined for just a second too long, "Hopefully." He corrected, taking a deep gulp of air, as if his nerves were beginning to get the better of him.

There was a short, uncomfortable silence, as Chan realised that Xun was just about as scared as she was, as scared as she was for all her supportive friends, and the genuinely lovely people she had recently met in the campsite. She saw the fear in his eyes, and in the way his hand trembled as he reached out to take both hers once more, looking down at the connection and giving a small smile. He continued to stare at their knit fingers, speaking clearly to their hands as if not wishing to meet Chan's eyes. "When we return, to Jiangdong, I mean," he looked up, his hair falling over his eyes and a flash of sunlight tracing through the thin golden highlights merrily, "maybe we could actually make an attempt to get to know each other. I haven't really given you a chance… I'm sorry. You must hate me."

She could see in the glint of his irises that he looked defeated; even saddened to think that he was possibly causing her grief.

Chan bit her lip as she mumbled down to the floor. "I don't hate you. Not at all. I'm sorry too."

"Lu Xun? We have to leave," came the voice of Quan, who had silently snuck up beside them, his expression firm and ready. He gave a small, polite incline of his head toward Chan as she slowly pulled her fingers away from Xun's grip. Giving her one last heart-rending look, her turned his back on her and strode out of the tent behind Quan.

Chan watched him go, sadly at first, the corners of her lips curled in a small, adamant pout. She really was beginning to fall.

She was beginning to fall in love with a husband who could only find solace in cheating on his poor, idiotic wife with an elegant woman with a high level of manners and eloquence which Chan could only dream of.

Oh dear.

Suddenly, all Chan's sudden elation at her husband approaching her just a minute back, faded into a grim shaking anger which she had no control over. How dare he just walk up to her like that, all innocent and forgiving…

"Y'alright?"

Chan looked up from the grassy floor of the tent, which had been listening to her angry mutterings, and glared at Gan Ning, who had materialised in front of her, the accusatory frown taking the burly pirate aback slightly. "Eh? I'm sorry, what the hell did I do?"

Chan shook her head after a second, gazing around the tent to check that everyone had filtered out; before letting out a high-pitched whine, which made Ning swear morosely and cover his ears. "I'm falling in love with my husband!"

She also screeched something else unintelligible, swearing about concubines, though Ning could barely make out the squeals as he screwed up his face in confusion. "Riight," he slowly emphasized, rolling his eyes and walking away from her with his hands held up in the air, palms facing Chan, as if claiming his innocence.

"Don't take it out on me," he continued with a mocking tone, striding over to the desk wearily and nosily peering down at the scrolls, which covered it, shaking his head at the scribblings which had frantically been made by Lu Xun just a while ago. He surveyed the papers for a second, as Chan marched toward him, wishing to make an attempt at deciphering the scrolls, when Ning's eyes suddenly lit up, and his face shot up to meet Chan's, his expression suddenly morphing into one of childish, daring delight.

Chan raised her eyebrows as if dealing with a lunatic, edging past him to peer down at the papers and maps on the desk.

"Did you say… that you really hate your husband?" Ning asked slowly, his gruff voice holding the element of pirate trickery.

"Uhhh… I don't exactly hate him…" Chan began, still attempting to read the scrolls, not wishing to launch into the whole story of her deranged love life once more, afraid that it would just bore her friend, who most obviously had another idea for fun in his mind.

"Well… I'm reckonin' that for a little payback, right, you could set some of these beauties on fire." He reached down to the table and gave a curled up scroll a sharp flick of his finger.

He was received with another bored, grumpy squint. "That's a dumb idea."

"I thought that was the sorta' thing you girls do."

"Yeah… but…"

"Come on, revenge… payback… all that shit…"

Reminding herself briefly of the way Xun was cheating on her with a higher class, elegant beauty, blanking her whenever possible and purposely making her feel like a sad excuse for a wife, Chan quickly decided that she honestly didn't need much persuading.

"Ok, then," she sighed, reluctantly, though however with a slight flash of zeal in her eyes, "lets go and fight the pyromaniac with fire."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Ning and Chan could be found sat cross-legged beside the cooling off embers of what had before been the officials tent; now nothing but a thin, amply holding out set of stakes and blackened wooden poles, the red, rich material which had made up the roof darkened with ashes and smoking at the seams.

Chan angrily dug a stick of charcoal into the grassy mud, the brown, sludgy substance squelching feebly under the pressure.

"That was completely your fault." She stated, out of the blue, nodding toward the burnt down tent, grumbling emotionlessly.

"Was not."

"Was too."

There was a brief silence, in which Chan's insides squirmed uncomfortably, and she held a hand out horizontally above the ground, watching it tremble with a sinking heart.

"He's gonna roast me alive, along with Shu, right?"

"Oh yes."


	12. 12

**12**

Jiangdong rolled into view among the foothills outside the carriage window.

The most attractively breathtaking place Chan could possibly want to be right now; though not for reasons which other people would consider. The large palace, a deep silhouette against the orange, raging sun, hanging like an orb in the still, breezed evening, was Chan's safety, her escape.

She felt a whoosh of clean, dusk air blow in through the window; a refreshing contrast to the muggy plaguing fog that still lingered in her nostrils.

A mixture of violent emotions befell Chan as the carriage slowed, approaching the market stalls nearby the palace gates, the vendors packing away their stalls slowly, chatter and laughter still buzzing in the air, social remnants of the daily market.

Out of all things, she'd missed the damn market itself, and it had in fact, only been a week and a half since she had left these very stone walls for Yiling; the mood in the carriage had not changed in the week; a pitiful loneliness still occupied the three vacant seats inside, Chan the only inhabitant.

And what had she accomplished in that week and a half of attempting to fit in with war-bent males? Chan leant her head back against her cushioned seat with a sigh, her eyes never shifting from the horizon line. She made a mental tally in her mind of the things which she had done well, and those that she had made a cock-up of. The mental cock-up's definitely vastly outnumbered the good-little-housewife points, and she realised that the most progress she had made within the week with her husband was a few seconds of gentle embrace; and even that small moment of condolence was in vain; the glances across the campsite or the large table in the officials tent, which ignited colourful blushes and thudding heartbeats from both people, were overshadowed by the many times that Lu Xun had tiredly dismissed her stupidity, and the countless adamant yells which inevitably came from Chan herself.

The carriage came to a halt outside the palace hall, the large wheels grinding against the pebbles, which were littered across the courtyard surrounding the main building. Clambering from the carriage with about as much elegancy as a baby elephant on roller-skates, Chan began to make her way toward the large porch which led to the palace hall; large, circular columns winding up to the roof, the red and golden carpet stretching from near her tired feet into the dimly lit corridors of the hallway, the scent of the burning candles and comfortable furniture which she made a mental note to fall onto as quickly as possible (obviously the furniture here, falling into the candles would just be another incident too many) in order to give way to the oncoming slumber which threatened to cause her eyelids to droop lazily.

Giving a weary, slightly hormonal dismissal to the carriage driver, she made her way into the palace, lugging her cloth bags full of clothes and various scraps of material which she had collected from the tent in a manic rush to ensure that nothing was forgotten, and throwing herself down onto the thigh-high wall which ran alongside the carpet underneath the roof of the castle porch. Her hands gently let loose of the handles from her bags, which were ready to burst dangerously at the seams, and she leant her elbows on her knees with a huff, placing her head in her hands and shaking out her hair; now a greasy, lank mess.

The memories of the evening flooded back all too quickly then.

* * *

_"It's just one thing after another! What reason do you possibly have to burn the officials' tent to a crisp? Do you honestly think that that is what we need right now, just as we are about to leave for battle with Shu?"_

_"I-I'm sorry…"_

_"Sorry doesn't cover it! Are you honestly so self-obsessed that you felt everything had to revolve around you a little longer, or are you just trying to illustrate a point?!"_

_Chan flinched against the sharp tone of his voice; his eyes mahogany circles of livid anger. She bit her lip guiltily and gazed down at the cinders of the tent with regretful, blurred vision._

_"It wasn't like that," she began to mumble, the pitch of her timid voice rising to a frightened squeak as his nostrils flared and he took a step closer to her._

_"What was it like then?" He spat out the words with little delicacy._

_"I just thought… I was going to…b-burn a scroll; I felt slightly…"_

_It's normally in situations like these that the accusing party of the argument fills in the last word for the wrongdoer, however to Chan's dismay, Xun gestured for her to carry on. When the tips of her ears began to blush, he shook his head and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest like a bored lecturer._

_"You know, Chan, I can wait all day for you to finish that sentence. Well, I am in fact needed, in quite an important battle, though I reckon that this would be more interesting to hear. Come on," he continued, when Chan said nothing, just shook out of pure fright, "why?"_

_Chan took a deep breath, as her statement came out in one gush of air. "Iwantedrevengebecauseyou'rehavinganaffair."_

_The wind which howled angrily through the nearby trees did absolutely nothing for Xun's mood._

_"Sorry, but the only part I caught of that sentence was 'affair'."_

_Chan's bottom lip wobbled, and she gave him a hurt, though adamant look as she shifted her gaze to the floor, where her eyes settled on his feet. Even they were shaking with acrimony. Jeez._

_"I don't understand why you're accusing me blindly like this, Chan," he finally surprised her by muttering cluelessly after a long minute. The anger had faded from his eyes, Chan noticed, as she found the courage to glance up. He looked more disappointed; at a loss for words, far from fond, even further from any understanding. "We're only recently married; you make me sound like some heartless man who hasn't given you a chance." His arms unfolded and fell limply to his sides, a hand rising to rake back his hair with disbelief, a grim, small choke of a laugh falling on his last few words. It did nothing to ease the atmosphere._

_Chan felt her heart plummet down to her stomach, and she realised that he was a blatant liar as well as a cheater. The sudden glimpse of hope that Xun would someday want her was extinguished by his solemn denial._

_That horrible silence fell upon the lone pair once more, and Chan felt a sudden urge to fill it, her eyes beginning to well up with tears in her bout of frustration, "Please… don't hate me. I'm not trying to be an awful wife, I'm trying so hard to make this work, and I like you…much more than you can imagine. I'm so sorry…"_

_Xun didn't meet her gaze, one of his feet digging into the grass beneath them in embarrassment, his gaze resting somewhere on a point behind Chan's shoulder. "Right," he said softly, "I was beginning to like you too… I was going to tell you that…" he gave another laugh, though several words from his claim stuck out like a sore thumb in Chan's head, it was as if someone had written them down on a sheet of paper and pointed them out to the poor girl several times over; 'was', 'beginning to…', she could not escape the absolution of the past tense, the almost adjective._

_"I was going to tell you… I was going to explain why… why I've been so…" he struggled with his phrasing; though the fact that he honestly could not be bothered with Chan was scrawled all over his tightened expression, and it stung her._

_He looked back down at the tent; the ashes feebly sparking a final glow of protest amongst the ruined material, and shook his head of any forgiveness for Chan. When he looked back, his jaw was set, his face holding an air of strict authority._

_"I think you should leave, now." He decided for her, nodding along to his own choice, "you can go back to Jiangdong. Our army will arrive home in a few days."_

_Chan's eyes widened, and a sudden wave of nervous jitters arose inside her, "wh-what? Can't I stay?"_

_"NO." She shrunk back into the nothingness of the campsite, her hands rising protectively to her neck, as Xun cleared his throat. "No… I mean… you can leave. You will. I think you've caused enough damage for now."_

_"I'm sorry –_

_"Save it."_

_A leaf fluttered in the wind, and flew into Chan's hand, which tightened around the crisp autumn article._

_"Will I see you again soon?" She mumbled, her tone rising on the last syllable, the hope evident._

_Xun considered for a minute, before he turned away from her only slightly, to look down at the tent remnants. "Maybe. Our forces will be home after the battle, win or lose. But I don't really think that it's wise."_

_"What's not wise?"_

_"Us."_

* * *

And so, taking all the blame for a crime engineered by her pirate friend, Chan had returned, tail between her legs, back to her home in the palace at Jiangdong. She wondered if Gan Ning had owned up to his little escapade with Chan; he had fled the scene of the crime just minutes before Xun had discovered Chan sat pathetically twiddling her thumbs beside the embers of their offence.

Her head snapped up to the left, as the large, wooden doors of the palace hall gave a grumble, and they rolled open, the heat of the inside palace, in all its homely glory, flew out from the corridors and hit Chan full in the face.

After a few seconds, in which Chan slowly and tiredly reached down to the floor for her cloth bag, the rosy, heart-shaped face of her Aunt Shang Xiang came into view, her head popping out from in between the doors comically, a blessing for Chan in disguise.

"Chan!" Her Aunt exclaimed happily, throwing the doors further open with a surprising amount of strength, and rushing forward to give Chan a warm hug. The grateful teen instead dumped her weighted bag into Shang's outstretched arms, who frowned at the respond to her warm welcome, and disappointedly hauled the strap over her shoulder.

The pair walked into the hall, Chan shrugging into the new warmth and crossing her arms over her chest. The scent of real food, not just uncivilised campsite mush, wafted into her nostrils temptingly, and noticing her sudden alert state at the smell from the mess hall, Shang rolled her eyes and steered her Niece food-wards.

"So, how are you getting on with your husband, now?" Xiao questioned eagerly as Chan greedily dug into her second bowl of steamed rice; white specks of the stuff mushed in various places around her lips.

Chan munched through her generous portion, wafting away any questions about her martial relationship with her unoccupied hand.

The three other women at the table fixed each other with knowing looks. Chan's mother herself swooped in on the teen, tutting impatiently at her daughter's complete lack of order and scooting closer to her on the bench.

"Chan, this is important, how are you and your husband getting along?"

The girl considered, now realising that she was the victim of her Aunts and Mother's interrogations. She glanced at each of them respectively; wondering what their reactions would be if she told them honestly what disaster she had caused whilst staying at the campsite. Her mother would click her tongue impatiently, then go into a soft rant about how Chan needed to be more elegant and ladylike. Xiao would hoot with laughter and most likely be the most delighted out of the three, earning herself a sour look from her sister, whilst Shang would be entirely bemused by the subject, before attempting to engage the other three in a debate about women's rights and husband-wife relationships.

Chan looked back down at her rice for a second, which made the decision for her.

"Better than before," she simply lied, returning to the much more important process of eating her food.

The reaction of her audience was mixed; Xiao made a so-so face, whilst sitting back on the bench and crossing her arms over her chest, already looking about the room for a better conversation topic. Da rolled her eyes ambiguously, muttering something incoherent about her daughter before moving away from the bench, carefully smoothing out the delicate folds of her skirt, and flouncing off to talk to someone else.

Shang was unconvinced.

"You'll tell me everything later, right?" She whispered into the ear of her preoccupied niece, whilst Xiao was eyeing an unfolding event in the corner of the room with interest. Chan nodded quickly, Shang being the only person whom she could honestly confide in.

The two women made their way back to Chan's room; Chan finding her legs wishing to lead her there themselves, completely set on course of achieving a decent nights sleep in a proper, comfortable bed. Xiao had walked off into the general direction of the small event in the mess hall, saying that 'gossip was calling', and scurrying towards the scene with a nosy air whilst Shang and Chan made their escape out of the back doors.

Chan's room was unchanged; clothes and hairpins still angrily strewn across the floor carelessly, the windows nearby her wardrobe flung open just as she had left them, the silken curtains making a vain attempt to escape out of them, caught forever in the wind. The beautiful Jiangdong view was just as she had left it; the view unspoilt and perfect; fantasy candy coloured clouds sinking below the horizon line, the trunks of thin, autumn trees casting long, jagged silhouettes against the pebbled courtyard of the palace.

The familiar scent of her luxurious chamber made Chan simply wish to fall upon the bed and droop into undisturbed slumber, though as she dragged her bag inside and threw it aside carelessly, watching it wearily as it skidded across the floor to crash into a wardrobe, Shang leapt on the opportunity to have a girl-to-girl heart-to-heart.

She caught Chan by her shoulders as she made a desperate lung for the bed, giving her a stern look as the girl gave a tired huffing scowl and threw herself down in a perfectly cushioned armchair, Shang moving to sit opposite her on a cushion which she threw onto the floor, crossing her legs daintily and wrapping her arms around them expectantly.

"So?" She asked, a faint smile crossing her lips as she noticed how not in the mood Chan was right now.

Chan feigned negligence, in the hope it would give her a hand from the situation.

"So what?"

"Tell me everything," Shang demanded, taking no notice at Chan's awful mock obliviousness.

It took a few seconds for Chan to arrange the events of the week into a decent explaining order, screwing up her face as she attempted to remember the reasons of the countless arguments, as she tried to recall the spark of idiocy which had ignited but another dispute between the pair. A breeze filtered past the curtains of the open windows, floating across to Chan and gently lifting the thinnest locks of her chestnut hair from her shoulders delicately.

Looking down at her sweating palms with a sudden newfound interest, she began her day-by-day narration of the past weeks events.

Shang did not, in fact, interrupt as much as she often tended to, instead taking in the story, laughing in the most appropriate places, rolling her eyes at Chan's obvious stupidity, and pursing her lips whenever Chan mentioned the clashes with Xun.

As her niece finished her story, Shang rocked back on her cushion in an attempt to de-numb her behind, which had suffered the most from Chan's little retelling of her escapades; the two had now been sat together for over an hour. She frowned to herself for a minute, plucking a stray thread from the cushion where the bright red and gold embroidery frayed angrily, and then scratching her head in confusion.

"So he's having an affair?"

Chan scrunched up her nose unattractively. "I do believe so."

"That's definitely what you think was… uh, happening in the tent?" Shang checked, not seeming to be too sure about Chan's sudden leap to blame her husband once again.

"He did say 'I love you'," Chan reminded her Aunt, feeling slightly sick as she repeated his words in a mocking imitation, her gut squirming as she realised that he was most likely never to say the words to Chan herself.

"Hmm."

Chan's back straightened in her chair at Shang's apprehensive feelings toward the subject. Was her Aunt accusing her of lying? She eyed her unappreciatively, not really liking the new turn that this conversation seemed to be taking.

Shang uncrossed her legs and spread them out in front of her, leaning back on her palms and tossing her short hair about her head, unaffected by Chan's sudden apprehensive air.

"Is that all you heard?" She asked sceptically, a hand brushing against the wooden floor of the room idly.

Chan didn't leave much time for Shang to add anything else, saying just a little too quickly, "I know what I heard."

"Ok."

The silence which followed was all too far from companionable. There was never such a high grade of tension between the two girls; they had always seen perfectly eye to eye, and a crass or damaging sentence had never set the two apart. Awkwardly, Chan shifted from her chair and gently clambered out of it, standing up beside it in the still night air. She hoped the gesture would tell Shang itself that she wanted to damn well get to sleep. Her Aunt didn't take the hint. Instead, she eyed her Niece accusingly from where she was still leisurely leant back on her cushion.

"Are you even trying to make this marriage work?" She asked simply, without implications, though with a cutting tone attached. Chan coloured in defiance.

"Yes." She blurted, stammering over her words, "Xun just doesn't seem to want to know."

Shang also stood up, awkwardly arising from her leant back position, brushing down her top with her tongue in her cheek, looking back up at Chan with what she interpreted as a disbelieving, disappointed narrowing of her eyes.

"Well, from what I can interpret, I think he's trying damn hard. You're just too ruddy stubborn to bother with him."

The warmth of Chan's room suddenly acquired a frost that hadn't come from the outside air temperature. Chan stepped back slightly from her Aunt, pouting her lips in acrimony and harrowing her eyes, hurt greatly by the sudden insult.

After a short second of silence, in which Chan attempted to stammer a comeback, she quickly replied icily with, "well, thanks Shang. That's a compliment and a half."

"You should at least attempt to get on with the poor guy, you don't know –

"I know enough that I can understand perfectly how incredibly deterred he is by me!"

Shang just smiled mockingly. "Right." She managed, choking over her words. She managed to point an accusatory finger at her niece, which shuddered in her sudden anger against the girl. "Chan, you're not a spoilt brat, you're a clever kid. Sort yourself out." Shang demanded viperously, shocking herself ever so slightly at the impact the words had on Chan, whose eyes immediately began to water childishly. Her lips began to wobble babyishly.

"Fine!" Chan exploded, stamping her feet like the adamant teenager she was, her hands curling into violent little fists, the knuckles turning white from the sudden strain. "Get out of my room!" She ordered, realising, as Shang made for the door with a sarcastic glare over her shoulder, that she mustn't have had a non-violent conversation with anyone apart from Tong or Ning in the last week.

Shang reached for the door-handle, her hands quivering as they rested on the golden door-knob, "You should honestly try, Chan. Because you don't know how long you have left with him."

Chan instantly retaliated, not bothering to reason with her Aunt, "I don't care! Maybe, with a bit of luck, he'll fall off the face of the earth!" Even as she spoke the words, she knew that she didn't even nearly mean them. The rise of wonder and ecstatic childish glee which came from inside her whenever he so much looked at her begged to differ.

Shang shook her head once again, awkwardly looking down at the doorknob, which she still held firmly with a hand. "That's how I felt, in the beginning," she muttered in slight agreement, the traces of anger fading to disappointment. Chan realised with a selfish, painful jolt, that Shang had been comparing her own relationship with Liu Bei of Shu to Chan and Xun's.

"Maybe you can come and talk to me properly when you grow up," Shang stated quietly, opening the door slowly, fighting against the urge to slam it against the wall of Chan's room with a roar. Instead, she quietly stalked out and shut it gently behind her, the catch clicking with a definitive, final tick.


	13. 13

_Ahhh this story is nearly over! Yes it has been quite short... and I'm sorry about the awful quality of the writing etc etc... I was in a rush and for some reason just wanted to post it. I went over it several times but I seem to be in one of those awful can't-write-for-feta-cheese type moods..._

_Thankyou to all my lovely reviewers - I have tried to reply to them all, but to those I can't/haven't then thankyou very much! I hit 50 reviews! Whoop _

_Second last chapter for ya... you know the drill my lovelies._

13

A hard rapping upon Chan's bedroom door one morning a few days later caused her to stir from her slumber, her head appearing from underneath the warm, satisfying covers with mild curiosity. Screwing up her face from the sudden hit of light which beamed at her through the windows, she glanced to outside her balcony, where the sun could be seen hanging high in the sky; midday.

She groaned loudly before falling out of bed; though smiled as she righted herself in a slobbish standing position – she'd been able to sleep in; her mood had arisen noticeably, and the warm, comfortable feel of home had replaced the muggy, awkward atmosphere which the men of the army seemed to revel in; she had been home but a few days and was still enjoying the joyful, cheery antics of her friends, all but two.

She hoped to the heavens above that Tong and Ning would make it home alive; Ning had in fact given her a particularly sorry farewell above dumping her in all the trouble after the tent incident, though now that her large pirate friend had gone off to risk his life for Chan and the kingdom, she thought that she might be able to let their little incident pass.

The knocking came at the door again, and Chan realised that she had been brooding on the subject of her friends for too long. Snapping from her reverie, Chan picked up her spirits once more and bounded over to the door like a hyperactive bunny, flinging it open with a wide smile, her hair a fluster and her make up from the night before smudged across her eyelids.

"RANDOM SOLDIER!" She squealed happily, as she clocked through her morning-vision just who was standing tiredly in front of her. "You made it back!"

Random Soldier recoiled just slightly at her forwardness, though returned the smile feebly and pressed his palm against the doorframe casually. "Yes, the army returned last night. Settling back in, then?"

Chan nodded eagerly, her fringe bouncing up and down tickly on her forehead. "It's great to be back. I don't know how you stand it there every day." She added, with a slight shake of her head. She rolled her sleeves up and fell back against the open door, leaning back against it wearily. "So, how did it go, then? I'm guessing that most people returned in uh… one piece?"

Random Soldier rolled his eyes at her obviously hopeful raise of pitch at the end of her question, but nodded in slight relief all the same. "It went surprisingly well," he reassured, raising an eyebrow as if preparing her for the next statement, "your husband is particularly clever. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have wiped out Liu Bei."

Chan's heart gave a violent flutter at the mention of her husband, though she recollected a breath to cover it up and moved on quickly, suddenly asking, "'wiped out?' What do you mean?"

Random Soldier looked down at the floor a second, wiping his brow with his free hand. "You know what it means."

He was right – Chan didn't need to have picked up on the fancy lingo which the soldiers used to speak about their enemies on the battlefield, it made sense.

And straight away, Chan thought of her Aunt.

"Shang…"

"Pardon?" Random Soldier looked up cluelessly, his brow furrowing with little interest.

"Shang… Lady Sun, my Aunt. She'll be devastated. I mean… she hated Lord Liu Bei at first but, I think they became good friends…"

"Of course," Random Soldier interrupted calmly, moving away from the doorframe and making to walk away down the corridor, smiling softly at Chan. "Don't worry about her, she'll be ok." He said carelessly – though Chan doubted he even knew who she was; before giving Chan a small incline of his head and turning to walk down the corridor. "I'll see you later," he called over his shoulder, disappearing round a corner, leaving Chan ever so slightly dumbfounded. She backed away from the door, closing it quietly, drifting away from it with a little less energy which had landed on her mood when she had clapped eyes on Random Soldier just a few minutes ago.

Twisting a finger carelessly around a thin lock of hair; mentally debating for a few seconds of whether to wash it then or later, she opened her curtains fully to let the sunlight flood into her room. She welcomed the suns rays – settling her little brained argument by deciding that if she washed her hair now, she would be in a fit state to talk to her husband, and attempt to make amends.

Whilst dipping a toe into the washtub to check temperature, giving a wince at the heat which spread viciously into her feet, she pondered over whether he would even be in the palace. Would he have left to another campsite? Returned home to his family? Chan had no idea, and she frowned to herself as she slowly eased herself into the warm water, realising that she didn't in fact know Xun well enough the answer this question.

And then her thoughts drifted back along to her Aunt. She hadn't in fact spoken to Shang in the following days after their heated argument; and Chan wished that she could go to comfort her Aunt on the loss of her husband – though their girly stubbornness would surely prevent them from looking over the cold shoulder which had plagued the pair for the last few days.

* * *

Chan had spent the majority of the day scurrying about the palace tirelessly to track down her friends from the campsite; though finding that most of the soldiers whom she had exchanged playful banter with and named her buddies had in fact returned home to their families, she was left to inquire after Tong, Ning, and of course her husband. To her surprise, she saw her sarcastic idiot of a friend and his archenemy Gan Ning laughing in a particularly manly fashion over a few pints of beer – discarded jugs swept carelessly aside across the mess tables, their fists banging loudly on the tables from the sheer humour of their conversation, their daily attire messed up informally.

The pair were in fact too engrossed in their fruitful jokery to notice Chan wheedle up to them shyly down the aisle between the two longest mess tables, the large food hall rather deserted of its usual number of soldiers and officers; who were most likely visiting home or just attempting to catch up on the much needed sleep which they had been devoid of in the last few days.

Chan awkwardly perched down on the bench beside Tong, craning her neck over his shoulder to stare wide-eyed at Gan Ning, who was wheezing with laughter and clutching his chest dramatically.

In an instant, tapping into his sixth sense that he had acquired from being stone drunk, Tong sensed Chan behind him and swivelled playfully on the bench, his face a childish mask of delight, causing Chan to jump at the sudden closeness and shriek loudly.

"Chaaannnyy!" Tong slurred drunkenly, his eyes wide, staring at his friend in complete surprise and disbelief, as if he had thought she had arisen from the dead right in front of him. He reached over to slap her heartily on the back, while Ning cringed at the loud force, which rang out from Tong's palm. "I haven't seen you in soooo longg!" Tong stated, his lips pursed in wisdomic knowledge as Chan leaned forward with a gasp at the sudden pain which Tong had inflicted.

Ning looked puzzled, and slid forward on the bench, the mug he was clutching clumsily spilling its contents over his trousers and the wooden floor below the bench. "Don't hurt the poor kid, idiot…" he drawled, giving Tong a prod on the nose as he turned once more to face the barely-conscious pirate. The pair burst out laughing once again.

Chan wasn't sure what to do. She was about to laugh along pathetically, though she realised she had no idea what the pair had been gossiping about, and decided that never having been in such a situation with two, large drunken men like this before, she could be excused.

Suddenly, the pair stopped their laughing in front of her in a sudden instant, and the chortles turned into small rupturing giggles. She raised an eyebrow.

Tong shrunk down in his seat mockingly, his eyes focused on a point behind Chan's shoulder, who didn't even bother to turn. He nudged Ning in the ribs and pressed a finger to his lips tartly. "Sssh… don't let him know we've drunk a bit…"

Chan shook her head slightly, shrugging her shoulders in newfound confusion. "Who?"

"Don't worry about them, Chan." Came a quiet, slightly humoured voice from behind her. She looked over her shoulder quickly to see Xun standing behind her; and she slowly arose from her seat, stepping away from the drunken pair as if to say, "I had nothing to do with it."

He seemed to sense her sudden jittered euphoria at being near him, and so he gave her a weak smile, rolling his eyes playfully at Tong and Ning, who had begun to nudge each other continuously and make awful attempts at exaggerated wolf-whistles. Chan's cheeks instantly began to flush crimson, though luckily, Xun missed her sudden state of humility, preoccupied with shooting a ferocious glare at the two drunken men.

Giving them a sour look, Chan turned away from the pair and focused fully on her husband – which was not much a burden in particular; he had just returned home from a raging victory over Shu, had large, blackened rings below his eyes, but still managed to look utterly beautiful. He had acquired a few more cut and bruises across his face – nothing that wouldn't heal over the next few days along with medicine and rest - which tarnished his demeanour, causing him to come across much less overpowering and unimpressed as before.

Chan coughed in order to clear her throat conspicuously, before looking away to the tables on her right. "I'm sorry, again, about the incident back at the campsite…" she began, trailing off in the hope that Xun would finish her sentence and spare her the embarrassment of having to finish her apology.

But to her surprise, he shrugged happily, beaming at her. "Don't worry. It's over and done with. I'd rather relax and enjoy my time back here instead of having another argument with you." His tone was soft; and Chan's pursed lips broke into a smile, one of relief, which caused the pair to share a small laugh.

"In fact…" he began slowly, his brilliant hazel eyes in direct contact with her dull grey ones, searching them intently, as if for forgiveness. Chan's heart began to thud, and as if the whole room could hear it, even Ning and Tong's chortles from behind them were drowned out as she focused solely on his words. "I was hoping that maybe now I'm back, we could get to know each other." Chan agreed with a violent rush of emotion, nodding her head earnestly.

He reached out to take her hand, gently folding it inside his with what Chan hoped was a slight jolt of affection. She smiled down at their hands, before remembering what he had said back in the campsite, and putting it forward.

"But… but you said… when we were back at the site, you were saying that we shouldn't… you know…"

Xun nodded sadly, taking in a small breath, his fingers from his free hand gently tracing across the soft skin of hers, which seemed to pick up every bump of his skin against hers as if they were connected with sparks of electricity.

"I'm sorry. But… I was talking to a friend," he smiled wryly, as if reminiscing slightly, "and they said that I should forget it… I told them about you… and I started thinking how you were such a challenge, how you were so hard to get along with – you seem to take anything I say and use it against me. To be honest; I think it's brilliant. I think that it works…"

Just as Xun was about to break into the interesting, romantic speech that Chan was certain would work out the knots in their relationship, another figure caught Xun's attention. His eyes fixed on another person whom Chan could sense coming up behind her, and she rotated slightly to be hit in the face by drop-dead-gorgeous, stuff-it-up-your-jumper beauty. Practically floating toward them, as if surrounded by a god-like aura which emanated mental shouts of "look at me!" came _her_. And Chan knew, that it was _her_, because she held the face which fitted the voice. The voice which Chan had overheard whispering ever so secretly with her husband that night in the tent, the voice which had been interrupting any enjoyable daydreams of Xun from that evening onward. Chan found herself mentally growling with the air of a lion as the woman approached.

It must have been the shoulder length, bouncy, shining hazel hair which even Chan's mother could not obtain through hours of stressful brushing, and the silken clothes fit for an empress which snugly caught onto her curvaceous figure which was making Xun's attention inevitably shift away from Chan right now. It just had to be the rosy, blushing cheeks and sweeping dark eyelashes which blinked down onto limpid brown irises which caused Xun to beam with glee.

After what was only a few seconds, but seemed like awful, pain educing hours, the woman ended up standing next to Chan; who suddenly began to feel large, unkempt and ugly compared to this Diao Chan of Jiangdong.

The girl gave a feeble bat of her eyelashes and made a mock-worried wobble creep across her lips. "Sorry… was I interrupting?"

Chan turned back to Xun; who was stood completely casual, smiling gratefully at the girl and completely oblivious to Chan's bunched up fists, which shook in tension by her thighs. She let a low grumble escape her lips, thankfully ignored by everyone else in the vicinity, as Xun shook his head with a heart-breaking smile and uttered. "No, not at all, Ming."

'Ming' turned on her five-inch heels to face Chan with a shy smile. "You must be Chan." She gave a small bow, and fluttered her eyelashes as if wishing for approval to shag her husband.

Chan nodded over-harshly, cursing herself on a brainwave to stop jumping to conclusions. Though sadly enough, this conclusion that her husband did in fact now have another seemed to be all too true.

"You must be Ming." Chan drawled, earning a sarcastic glare from Xun, who had seemed to suddenly notice her rabid first-impression hate which had overtaken her senses.

He placed a hand gently on Ming's shoulder, before giving a particularly obvious 'get out of here' roll of his eyes and saying a little too gruffly, "well… I need to speak with Ming, now… so, uh.. Chan, we'll talk later…"

As if sensing his newfound embarrassment, Chan excused herself and marched away stubbornly to plonk herself down next to Ning and Tong, who were now so stone drunk that they were ready to loll about dangerously on the floor and trip people up by bashing their ankles, they didn't provide particularly good company. However, despite their obliviousness to her sudden presence, she much preferred to sit with the pissy pirate and her fabulously un-witty gay friend than watch Xun drool over the eyelash-fluttering extraordinaire.

"D-dead? How? What do you mean?"

The sudden trembling stutter from a man nearby aroused Chan from her little grumblings. Even Ning and Tong's ears pricked at the words which had broken dangerously into the newfound, peaceful state of Jiangdong. Chan craned her neck slightly, to note that, at a nearby table, a small cluster of people had formed around one man, whom she recognized as Lord Lu Meng. Leaping up from her bench, eager to fill her ears with the recent gossip of the castle, she dashed over to the group and placed her hands on a random man's shoulders, leaning over him to peer into the centre of the group.

"Yes… she committed suicide." Lu Meng was fretting to the soldiers nearby him, his face a violent mix of emotions. There were small, glistening tears in his eyes, and his mouth was hung open, his cheeks flushed with depressing exasperation.

Chan frowned. Who could possibly be so down that they'd do that? Jiangdong wasn't exactly the worst area to live in…

She leaned in further, a morbidly intense expression of eager puzzlement written across her face. Meng glanced up to look at Chan glumly, square in the eyes. She flinched at the harsh tone, which cut through her like a knife; the words themselves lingering inside her mind with a sudden, final chime.

"Lady Sun… Shang. She threw herself in the river when she heard about Lord Liu Bei."

Silence rippled through the group, and Chan found that her confused expression was slowly melting, as she let loose of the soldiers shoulders suddenly. Her eyes widened, the statement sinking in with a vengeance. Her breath caught in her throat suddenly, and she stumbled back blindly, landing a few seconds later in the lap of Tong, who was cursing drunkenly about how Ning's hair was too abnormally straight. Chan didn't listen to him as he threw an angry accusation in her general direction.

She was too busy trying to remember what her last words to her Aunt were.


	14. 14

14

She'd trashed her room until it was barely recognizable as her chamber, thrown pillows at the walls with banshee screeches, cursed herself, her husband and her two drunken friends who were _meant _to be there for her until she ran out of profanities, having to think up clever new obscenities which could satisfy the raging guilt which was churning her insides.

She'd nearly smashed her dressing table mirror; but decided against it when she realised her mother would make her pay for a new one.

She'd ripped a curtain from her window loose of the railing, stamping her feet and wailing like a toddler when she found that she could not fix it.

And as she remembered how no one would come to her room to shut her up, or to comfort her, she let a small whine escape her throat.

But she could not cry.

And this was what hurt the most.

Chan was disgusted at herself. Not even a tear would dare to well up in her bloodshot eyes; and her cheeks were blotchy red; though not from a build up of emotion, just the heat of the evening. She couldn't even begin to let any moisture escape her vision over her dead Aunt – the woman who had been there more for the girl than her own mother. The woman who had taught her how to read, how to walk, how to defend herself, giving her martial arts lessons which she would never have the chance to use her skills from, lecturing her daily on how she thought that women should have a say too.

And all Shang's beliefs and ideals had just been cast away in the river as she had taken the plunge. Never to be recovered from their watery depths again.

Chan moaned and shrank back onto her bed.

"Cry… damnit…" she urged herself, sniffing with exaggeration and screwing up her face toward the ceiling in order to tempt out the tears. Nothing came. Even the fact that the last words Chan had uttered, no, hollered to her Aunt were 'get out of my room,' and the thoughts of her Aunt which had followed up to her dramatic death had been ones of vicious, selfish sureity.

Chan sniffed once again, round at her room, which was nothing short of resembling a pig-sty. As before mentioned, a curtain lay ripped across her wooden floor, the railing bent awkwardly with no hope of ever returning to it's original place on her cream walls, ink blotches were dotted messily over the carpet due to an angry brush of her parchments and ink tub from the dressing table, pillows were randomly bunched up against the walls due to being angrily hurled in an unfathomable direction.

Chan clucked her tongue with guilt as she realised what her mother would say when she next entered.

What would Shang say?

Chan didn't have to think particularly hard for the answer to come swarming into her head like an angry rush of bees. Her Aunt would be horrified. Shang would wish for Chan to continue without kicking up a fuss, to keep her emotions bottled up and remember her Aunt with a smile rather than having to throw something at someone whenever they so much coughed in her direction. With a tongue in cheek type reminisce, Chan realised, fighting the urge to chuckle, that even her Aunt would be laughing at her from the heavens right now.

But her Aunt's death had been confirmed just a few hours ago. And she still wasn't crying over it. She should be torn up, not tearing up her room with a vengeance.

A knock came at her door.

Non-despondent, Chan just flumped back on her bed, her head crashing into the pillows, her soft chestnut hair spread out behind her across the duvet. She ignored the sudden, second knock and closed her eyes slowly, feeling a slight sense of déjà vu creep in.

Knock knock.

"There's no one inside." Chan called out half-heartedly, raising a hand above her chest, uncurling her fingers and stretching them out into the rays of twilight sunset which beamed dustily through the large gap of missing curtain. She gave her lips a small, sorry pout as she noticed the horrible callouses which now inhabited the ends of her fingers; years of nail and finger biting finally having their effects.

"Well, that wasn't very clever," came the huff from in the corridor, the voice at a safe distance, blocked away by a thin wall, Chan's only sanctuary from the outside world.

She recognized her husbands calm voice instantly, though the sudden increase of tempo in her heartbeat was not quite so enthusiastic as the many other times she had heard his beautiful tones; mainly due to the averagely annoying facts which concerned the death of her Aunt, her cheating husband… etc.

_Everyday factors in life for the lonely wife_… Chan thought to herself bemusedly, as Xun attempted once more to arouse her attention by pounding once more on the door.

"Please, Chan… I really need to speak to you…"

Once more she ignored his plea, humming to herself off-tunely, frowning in the general direction of the door, attempting to drown out his voice.

"Please… Chan? Come on! Open the damn door!"

The volume of the humming increased, and it soon became a muffled squeal, which she was pretty sure her husband outside could hear.

"Fine then."

Chan changed the tune, tired of the rising pitch which she had started with.

"I said FINE!"

"I KNOW!" Chan yelled back, breaking the new melody which she had began to mentally compose, sitting up in her bed and bunching her fingers into small fists in anger. She shuffled back on her behind awkwardly to lean back against the headboard of her bed, replacing her frown with a small, set little snobbish composure.

Chan waited a minute, before cocking her head to a side impishly and listening out for her husband once more in the doorway; though no sound came.

_He must have gone to shag his concubine, then_, Chan decided, not admitting to the tiny little spark of jealousy which had begun to infect her thoughts.

There was a crash as the door was knocked down.

Chan's head flicked to a side in complete astonishment, and her head perked up, her fists unfurling to lay her palms out flat on the bed, raising from her sitting position to peer into the now dusty doorway.

Nearly laughing at the absolute drama of the situation the pair was now in, Chan watched with bemused interest as her husband's figure slowly ambled out from the cloud of dust. She peered down at her door, which was flat out on the floor; completely ripped loose of the hinges. Her eyes widened as she made a mental note not to anger her husband once again any time soon, for fear of ending up just like her defeated obstacle of a door.

The first thing Chan noticed about Xun was that he was also guilty of not being able to cry. Having no idea how she could possibly tell this at all, she stumbled off the bed and approached him cautiously, looking his weak figure up and down before tentatively putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that… you didn't really need to… uh…" she began, though as she neared the end of her sentence, the pair both looked down at the door pointedly, before looking back into each others eyes and sharing a small little laugh; not forced, not nervous. It broke the tension; and on a snap decision, acting as one on the rare occasion, they both made their way across the room toward Chan's bed, where they both perched on the edge and arranged themselves, Xun sheepishly ruffling his hair, whilst Chan lay her palms flat out causally and smiling.

"I'm guessing that you haven't taken the news about Shang too well, then…" Xun trailed off, noticing, for the first time, the state of Chan's room. He exhaustedly shook his head and gave his wife a fond look.

"No…" Chan repeated the gesture, tentatively eyeing her husband's bruised face, pressing her palms together in front of her and winding her fingers around nervously. "You wanted to talk?"

Xun nodded slowly, taking his lingering eyes away from the mess, which was unfortunately her room, and shrugged in a breath. "Well… where to start."

Chan pursed her lips worriedly.

Xun leant back on the bed, copying Chan's pose, giving his head a violent, charming flick in order to wipe clean his face of straying strands of brown hair before furrowing his brow, and inclining his head ever so slightly to Chan.

"I… I guess I came up here to just, well, talk really. I know you were so incredibly close to Shang, and really, she and I were also quite good friends. When I saw you run off from that group of gossiping soldiers, I suddenly felt so… sorry…"

Chan straightened ever so slightly, not especially liking the fact that he felt sorry for her.

He continued as if she had not reacted. "Because I guess I felt like running away as well, especially with Ming there too, and funnily enough, I just had this sudden urge to tell you everything… to spill out my guts of information and hold you and tell you everything was going to be ok…" he coloured slightly, the tips of his ears fading to a pink blush, "because I think I needed the same – I somehow knew that this is what being married is about, being able to confide, being able to, well… talk."

"Without having a yelling match." Chan helpfully filled in, earning herself a small smile in return.

"That's true."

Chan surveyed Xun carefully in those few everlasting seconds of companionable silence; truly touched by his words, her inside all a fluster, her girly emotional hormone levels having hit an all time high. She found herself edging closer to him, and was surprised when he noticed, but didn't duck away.

"I'm sorry I wasn't so nice before… I haven't been having the best time at the moment; my sister has come to stay, she's in danger from a Shu general…" Xun continued off-handedly, swatting away the subject of his sister with a hand as if it was not at all important.

Chan was confused for a second, and she squirmed uncomfortably where she sat on the bed, feeling bad for not bothering to enquire into the life of his family. "Your sister? I haven't met her… is she here in Wu?"

It was Xun's turn to look puzzled, and he turned to face Chan now, crossing his legs on the bed and clasping his hands together in his lap in earnest.

"Yes, Chan. You have met her… she was in the dining hall just earlier… "

Chan was bewildered, and she gave a small stutter of a smile, with a sniff, laughing away his claim. "Uh… nope. I haven't met her. I think, if she was related to you, I would remember seeing her." She raised an eyebrow mockingly, hoping to compliment him, though he rolled his eyes and shifted closer, reached out hesitantly to ensnare Chan's fumbling hands in his. She revelled in the warmth of his palms, and bit her lip awkwardly.

"You'll meet her properly soon enough," Xun continued, shaking his head free of thoughts of any sibling, eyeing Chan tentatively. "I just wanted to make sure that –

"Wait," Chan suddenly chipped in, opening her mouth ever so slightly in intensity of thought. Ming… suspicious thoughts of a concubine… Xun saying 'I love you', tenderly to someone else…

"Ming is your sister?" Came the sudden outburst from a bewildered Chan, who now felt as if her head was on fire for putting such an unfortunately placed group of events together.

Her proud sense of achievement washed away any embarrassed feelings as Xun asked, "yes… why not? Who did you think she was?"

The humiliation which she had felt so many times before suddenly drifted back to her. "Umm… I thought that…" she began, looking away from Xun's sceptical azure eyes with a powerful blush. "I thought she was a… uh… concubine…"

More than anything, Xun looked incredibly astonished; more taken aback than Chan had ever seen him, and it took a minute for him to collect his wits before replying with a ghostly, "no… way… do you honestly…"

Chan waited for him to gather himself together properly, giggling slightly in spite of her situation.

"Do you honestly think I'd do that to you? Now of all times?" He truly asked, his eyes wide with absolute shock.

"Um… yes."

"Wow."

"I know."

There was a short silence once again, as Xun shook his head for probably the tenth time that evening, and slowly closed his jaw, which had dropped along with the bombshell Chan had dropped.

The pair shared yet another, small laugh.

"I'm sorry," Chan admitted truthfully, smiling down at their hands, still entwined despite the little misunderstanding which had passed between them. "I guess I don't know you well enough."

Xun nodded eagerly, rolling his eyes at his wife with a newfound affection. "You really don't."

Removing a hand from his gentle grip with a shake, Chan raised her hand and gently began to trace along her husbands knuckles, her breathing becoming staggered with a wave of embarrassment. "Maybe we could start now."

"What?"

"Getting to know each other. Lets just… talk."

Xun took his eyes away slowly from their hands, and locked gazes with Chan's grey, mysterious irises intently, taking in a small breath. "Lets start with your Aunt."

And they did.

Their hushed chatter continued on through to the late hours of that night, until the early hours of the morning. Chan remised of her Aunt by describing to Xun a day in her youth when she had gone horse-riding with Shang; disastrous but hilarious antics ensuing from both her Aunts and Chan herself, including escaped horses and a severely bruised soldier who had crossed the wrong side of the horse in question.

Xun lamented to Chan of his childhood, the town in which he grew up, and his arrival years back at the palace of Jiangdong. Meeting the people of the palace, getting on well with everyone, his relationship with her Aunt one of his most prominently remembered.

"The first thing that she said to me was… 'do you want rice with that?'" Xun chuckled in remembrance, a little, glistening tear escaping his eye, a shaking finger wiping it away a few seconds later.

And soon enough, Chan was crying too.

The difference to the hundreds of other times that she had spilt waterworks to now, was that she had someone who cared, other than her girlfriends, to listen to her.

Xun had found his life raft, his escape, and his new challenge. The new dangerous beauty whom with he could fight every morning, but make-up humorously with once again every evening.

Chan had found her angel, her annoyingly perfect best friend, her sunbeam which she could call her own.

And in years to come, the solemn friendship would be replaced by a love, a love which only two people with both intent humorous and aggressive beginnings could even begin to understand.

* * *

_It's OOOVERRR.._

_Whoop._

_I was getting slightly tired of this story... I was itching to start a new one... But I hope that you have enjoyed it's shortness! I'm starting a longer, more complex one soon enough, I've already written the first chapter, so please, if you've liked this story, PLEASE keep a look out for my next one and maybe give it a try. I'm going to aim to improve my writing. _

_Maybe I'll write a sequel someday? _

_Please R&R... tell me what you thought... etc, etc. _

_Thankyou to all my brilliant reviewers, all the lovely people who have kept me motivated, and kept me writing. I love you more than you can possibly imagine. But not in a creepy way. Obviously._

_Much love, thankyou again, Chloe xxx_


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